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This  book  may  be  kept  out 

TWO  WEEKS 

only  and  is  subject  to  a  fine  of  TWO  CENTS 
a  day  thereafter.  It  will  be  due  on  the  day 
indicated  below 


HIDDEN^TRESSURES ; 


®R, 


hij  some  ||uccee(l. 


hile  othens  ^^ail. 


By  H.  A.  LEWIS. 


FINELY   ILLUSTRATED. 


*  Not  Failure,  but  low  airr),  is  crime." 


SOLD  ONLY  BY  OUR  AUTHORIZED  AGENTS, 


KING,  RICHARDSON  &  CO., 

137, 139  &  141  State  St., 

Springfield,  Mass. 
1889. 


r.liiSI"**^""' 


Copyright,  1887, 
By  AVRIGHT,  MOSES  &   LEWIS, 

All  rights  reserved. 


PREFACE. 


^I^OME  succeed  while  others  fail.  This  is  a  recognizee^ 
fact ;  yet  history  tells  us  that  seven-tenths  of  our  mosl 
successful  men  began  life  poor.  As  our  title  indicates,  w^ 
shall  endeavor  to  show  *'why  some  succeed  while  others 
fail.*'  Knowing  that  everybody  desires  success,  and  recog- 
nizing the  old  adage,  "Example  is  the  best  of  teachers,"  we 
have  selected  representative  characters  from  the  multitude 
of  successful  men  who  have  climbed  the  ladder  of  success, 
beginning  at  the  bottom  round.  These  we  have  followed 
from  childhood  to  manhood,  dwelling  at  length  on  the  traits 
of  character  that  have  made  them  so  rich  and  successful,  be- 
lieving that  a  careful  study  will  convince  all  that  the  pro- 
verbial **luck"  had  little  to  do  with  it.  On  the  contrary, 
one  is  taught  those  lessons  of  self-helpfulness  and  self-reliance 
which  are  so  essential  to  success  in  life's  struggles.  It  is  fear 
ful  to  think  how  many  of  our  young  people  are  drifting  with- 
out an  aim  in  life,  and  do  not  comprehend  that  they  owe 
mankind  their  best  efforts.    We  are  all  familiar  with  the 

parable  of  the  slothful  servant  who  buried  his  talent — all 
may  profit  by  his  example.  To  those  who  would  succeed, 
we  respectfully  present  this  volume. 

Ill 


Every  younef  man  is  now  a  sower  of  seed  on  the  field  of 
life.  The  bright  days  of  youth  are  the  seed'time.  Every 
ihought  of  your  i7itellectj  every  emotion  of  your  heart,  every 
word  of  your  tongue,  every  principle  you  adopt,  every  act  you 
perform,  is  a  seed,  whose  good  or  evil  fruit  will  prove  bliss 
or  ba?ie  of  your  after  life. — Wise. 


£V 


INTRODUCTION. 


T^EAR  reader,  it  is  a  grave  undertaking  to  write  a  book, 
^^-^  especially  is  it  so  in  writing  a  treatise  on  success  and 
failure,  as  we  haye  attempted  to  do  in  the  work  we  hereby 
present  you.  It  is  a  solemn  thing  to  give  advice.  Experi- 
ence teaches  that  no  one  thing  will  please  everybody ;  that 
men's  censures  are  as  various  as  their  palates ;  that  some  are 
as  deeply  in  love  with  vice  as  others  are  with  virtue.  Shall 
I  then  make  myself  the  subject  of  every  opinion,  wise  or 
weak  ?  Yes,  I  would  rather  hazard  the  censure  of  some  than 
kinder  the  good  of  others. 

There  need  neither  reasons  to  be  given  nor  apologies  to  be 
made  where  the  benefit  of  our  fellow-men  is  our  aim.  Henry 
Clay  Trumbull  says:  "At  no  time  in  the  world's  history, 
probably,  has  there  been  so  general  an  interest  in  biography 
as  that  which  has  been  shown  of  late.  Just  here  lies  a 
weighty  obligation  upon  those  who  write,  and  those  who 
read,  of  the  lives  of  men  who  have  done  something  in  the 
world.  It  is  not  enough  for  us  to  know  what  they  have 
done ;  it  belongs  to  us  to  discover  the  why  of  their  works  and 
ways,  and  to  gain  some  personal  benefit  from  the  analysis 


of  thtir  successes  and  failures.  Why  was  this  man  great? 
What  general  intentions — what  special  traits  led  him  to  sue* 
cess  ?  What  ideal  stood  before  him,  and  by  what  means  did 
he  seek  to  attain  it  ?  Or,  on  the  other  hand,  what  unworthy 
purpose,  what  lack  of  conscience  and  religious  sense,  what 
nnsettled  method  and  feeble  endeavor  stood  in  the  way  of 
the  'man  of  genius '  and  his  possible  achievements?"  In  this 
Tolume  one  sees  the  barefoot  boy  rise  to  the  eminent  states- 
man, the  great  millionaire,  the  honored  inventor.  How  was 
this  accomplished  ?  We  believe  that  a  careful  study  of  the 
different  characters,  by  the  light  of  the  author^s  opinion  of 
the  characteristics  essential  to  success,  as  shown  in  Depart- 
ment Fifth,  will  show  why  they  succeeded. 

Let  the  reader  follow  each  character  separately,  from 
childhood  to  manhood,  noting  carefully  the  different  changes 
in  the  career  of  each  and  the  motives  w^hich  actuated  and 
brought  them  about.  If  this  book  shall  serve  to  awakea 
dormant  energies  in  one  person  who  might  otherwise  have 
failed,  we  shall  feel  abundantly  repaid.  Doubtless,  there  are 
others  who  are  better  qualified  to  write  a  treatise  on  suck 
a  subject;  nevertheless,  we  have  done  our  best,  and  this 
done,  we  have  attained  success. 


VI 


CONTENTS. 


Adams,  John. 
Arthur,  Chester  A. ,     - 
AsTOR,  John  Jacob,  - 
Barnum,  Phineas  T.,     - 
Beecher,  Henry  Ward, 
Bennett,  James  Gordon 
Benton,  Thomas  Hart, 
Blaine,  James  G., 
Bonner,  Robert,    - 
Calhoun,  John  C, 
Cass,  Lewis, 
Childs,  George  W.,     - 
Claflin,  Horace  B., 
Clay,  Henry, 
Cooper,  Peter, 
Corcoran,  William  W., 
DissTON,  Henry, 
Dodge,  William  E.,    - 
Douglass,  Stephen  A., 
Drew,  Daniel, 
Edison,  Thomas  A., 
Everett,  Edward, 
Fair,  James  G.,     - 
Fargo,  William  G.,     - 
Field,  Cyrus  W.,  - 
Fillmore,  Millard, 
Flood,  James  C. 
Til 


PAGE. 

129 

-  352 

85 

.     81 

404 

77 

-  248 
362 

45 

.    209 

.  207 

72 

26 

256 
95 

119 
93 
27 

267 
11 

476 

328 
54 
48 

-  467 

-  281 

49 


Franklin,  Benjamin, 

Fulton,  Robert, 

Garfield,  James  A., 
GiRARD,  Stephen, 

Goodyear,  Charles, 

Gould,  Jay, 

Grant,  Ulysses  S.,  - 

Greeley,  Horace, 

Hamilton,  Alexander, 

Hancock,  Winfield  S.,  - 

Harper,  James, 

Hayne,  Robert  Y., 

Hoe,  Richard  M.,    - 

Howe,  Jr.,  Elias, 

Jackson,  Andrew,    - 

Jackson,  Stonewall,    - 

Jefferson,  Thomas, 

Johnson,  Andrew, 

Law,  George, 

Lawrence,  Abbott, 

Lawrence,  Amos,    - 

Lee,  Robert  E., 

Lincoln,  Abraham, 

Logan,  John  A., 

Longworth,  Nicholas,    - 

MacKay,  John  W.,    - 

Madison,  James,  - 

Marshall,  John, 

McClellan,  George  B.,  - 

Mills,  Darius  O., 

Monroe,  James,     - 

Morse,  Professor  S.  F.  B., 

Palmer,  Potter,     - 
Feabody,  George, 
VIII 


PAGB. 

429 

-  436 

342 

-  106 

457 
30 

299 
61 

179 

.  293 

90 

-  216 
454 

-  444 
237 

-  303 
168 

.    338 

101 

271 

21 

306 

312 

367 

43 

52 

184 

175 

297 

103 

200 

462 

-  88 
116 


PAGE, 

Pullman,  George,        -           -                       *,            -           .  473 

Ralston,  William  G.,        -           -           -           -           -  112 

Rothschild,  Nathan  Mayer,  -----  122 

Sage,  Russell,        -  -  -  -  -  --14 

Seward,  William  H.,  ------  204 

Seymour,  Horatio,            -           -           -           .            -  289 

Singer,   Isaac  M.,        -           -           -           -           -           -  451 

Stanton,  Edwin  M.,            -           -           -           -           -  332 

Stephens,  Alexander  H.,        -----  272 

Stephenson,  George,        -           -           -           -           -  421 

Stewart,  Alexander  T.,        -            -           -            -            -  39 

Taylor,  Moses,        --           -           -           «           -  110 

Tilden,  Samuel  J.,      ----...  396 

Van  Buren,  Martin,        -  .         -           -           -            -  263 

Vanderbilt,  Cornelius,        -            -           -           -           -  16 

Vassar,  Mathew,     ------  84 

WanNamaker,  John,  -  -  -  -  -  -37 

Watt,  James,        -            -            -            .            .  415 

Webster,  Daniel,      .---..  218 

Weed,  Thurlow,  ------  69 

Wilson,  Henry,          -           ^           -            .           .            .  310 

Whitney,  Eli,                   -            -           -            -            -  435 
Why  Some  Succeed  while  Others  Fail. 

Success  and  Failure,        -           -            -           -            -  481 

Concentration  op  Effort,     -----  486 

Self-Reliance,      ------  490 

Economy  of  Time,        ------  495 

Causes  of  Failure,           -           .           •           •           •  4^Q 


IX 


QUOTATIONS. 


A  man,to  succeed , must  possess  the  necessary  equanimity 

of  temper  ameJit  to  conceive  an  idea  J    the  capacity  to  form  it 

into  som.e  tangible  shape,  the  ingenuity  to  put  it  into  practi- 

cul  operation,  the  ahility  to  favorably  impress  others  with  its 

weritSy  arul  the  power  of  will  that  is  absolutely  necessary 

to  force  it  to  success. 

— Thomas  A.  Scott. 

Labor  rids  us  of  three  evils. — Tediousness,    Vice  and 

P,overty. 

— Carlyle. 

^^  Never  start  upon  an  undertaking  until  you  are  sure 

it  is  practicable  and  ought  to  be  done,  and  then  let  nothing 

statid  long  in  the  tvay  of  accomplishing  that  undertaking. 

It  is  better  to  deserve  success  than  to  have  it ;  few  deserve  it 

who  do  not  attain  it." 

^'  Th^re  is  no  failure  in  this  country  for  those  whose  per- 
sonal habits  are  good,  and  ivho  follow  some  honest  calling 
industriously,  unselfishly,  and  purely.  If  one  desires  to 
succeed,  he  must  pay  the  price — work  !  " 

In  order  to  succeed,   a  man  must  have  a  purpose  fixed, 

then  let  his  motto  be  victory  or  death. 

— Henry  Clay. 

"Be  liberal  but  cautious  ;  enterprising  but  carefuV 

^^  Our  greatest  glory  is  not  in  never  falling,  but  in  rising 

every  time  wefalV^ 

^  Fail!— Fail? 

In  the  lexicon  of  youth,  tvhich  Fate  reserves 

for  a  bright  manhood,  there  is  no  such  icord 

As— fail!  — "  Richelieu." 

Benjamin  Franklin  has  truly  said:     The  road  to  tvealth 

•is  as  plain  as  the  road  to  ynill. 

X 


11 


HERE  is  a  great  financier.  A  man  of  unusual  ability; 
but  who  is  no  exception  to  the  rule,  born  poor. 
His  success  came  by  hard  work  and  a  thorough  mastery 
of  his  business.  It  is  surprising  how  many  Wall  Street 
operators  began  life  on  the  farm.  In  the  case  of  Daniel 
Drew,  at  the  age  of  only  fifteen,  matters  were  made  worse 
by  the  death  of  his  father. 

/At  eighteen,  he  concluded  to  go  to  New  York;  but, 
after  a  discouraging  time  of  it,  his  money  giving  out, 
he  was  obliged  to  return  to  his  home.  However,  his  tiip 
did  not  prove  a  total  failure,  as  subsequent  events  show. 
While  in  the  metropolis  he  heard  that  fat  cattle  could 
be  sold  there  at  a  profit  over  what  he  knew  they  could 
be  bought  for?  at  his  country  home.  He  therefore  re- 
solved to  go  into  the  cattle  business.  True,  he  had  no 
money,  he  was  a  poor  country  lad,  but  this  made  little 
difference  with  Drew's  determination.  As  he  had  no 
money  with  which  to  buy  a  drove  for  himself,  he  did 
the  next  best  thing  ;  this  was  to  induce  the  neighboring 
farmers  to  allow  him  to  drive  their  cattle  to  market  on 
a  commission  plan.  By  this  one  act  the  reader  can 
understand  the  difference  between  Daniel  Drew  and  the 
neighboring  farm  boys,  many  of  whom  were  better  situ- 
ated, doubtless,  than  was  he. 

Another  characteristic  he  developed  was  economy ; 
his  money  was  saved  and  with  these  small  savings  he 
added  cattle  to  his  drove  which  were  his  own,  hence, in- 


12  HIDDEN    TREASURES. 

creased  his  profits ;  first  one  at  a  time,  then  two,  when 
at  last  he  abandoned  the  commission  business,  becoming 
a  drover  on  his  own  account.  Later,  he  took  a  partner 
and  the  firm  of  Drew  &  Co.  became  the  cattle  kings  of 
America.  This  was  the  first  firm  that  ever  drove  cattle 
from  the  West,  and  Drew,  ever  watchful  for  opportunities 
to  add  to  his  already  increasing  income,  bought  a 
tavern  which  became,  as  Drew  knew  it  would  under 
good  management,  the  centre  of  the  cattle  business  in 
the  city  on  market  days. 

As  time  passed,  as  a  matter  of  course,  following  such 
a  line  of  procedure,  he  became  a  very  rich  man,  and  hia 
disposition  being  of  an  enterprising  nature,  he  began  to 
cast  about  him  for  new  investments,  seeking  new  fields 
to  conquer.  The  explosion  of  a  boat  on  the  Hudson, 
discommoding  for  a  time  the  existing  line,  offered  to 
Drew  the  favorable  opportunity  for  which  he  was  look- 
ing, and  as  was  characteristic  he  at  once  improved  his 
chance.  He  immediately  placed  on  the  river  the  '^  Water 
Witch  " ;  the  old  line  resumed  business ;  the  fares  were 
reduced  until  the  profits  of  both  companies  were  eaten 
up.  The  opposition  tried  to  intimidate,  they  tried  to  buy 
out,  and  then  tried  to  negotiate  some  other  deals,  but 
all  in  vain.  On  the  contrary  Drew  put  on  the  "West 
Chester,"  and  instead  of  stopping  at  Peekskill,he  extended 
to  Albany.  He  next  bought  the  "Bright  Emerald,"  and 
started  an  evening  line.  This  was  a  new  feature  in 
those  days  and  as  it  enabled  the  business  men  to  travel 
without  loss  of  time,  it  became  eminently  popular. 

Drew  was  a  man  with  a  fertile  mind  ;  he  made  a 
study  of  whatever  he  undertook ;  he  was  a  hard  man  to 
beat.  He  bought  the  "Rochester,"  and  next  bought  out 
the  old  line.    For  a  long  time  he  had  things  pretty 


©ITB   OOtTNTBY's   WEALTH   AKD   WHO    POSS1U38   IT.  IS 

mnch  his  own  way ;  then  came  a  new  opposition.  This 
time,  through  negotiations,  he  won  the  opposition  over 
and  established  the  celebrated  'People's  Line/' naming 
their  first  boat  after  his  new  partner,  "  St.  John."  Mr. 
Drew,  in  connection  with  others,  formed  the  ''Stonington 
Line"  between  New  York  and  Boston,  and  still  later  he 
opened  the  ''Champlain  Transportation  Company"  from 
White  Hall,  New  York,  to  Rouses  Point,  Vermont.  He 
next  placed  his  shoulder  under  Erie,  endorsing  its  paper 
to  the  amount  of  ten  millions.  Later  still  he  was 
elected  President  of  this  company,  and  as  Erie  and 
Central  are  natural  enemies,  Vanderbilt  and  Drew  hence- 
forth became  hostile  toward  each  other.  Mr.  Drew  wanted 
to  extend  Erie  west.  To  do  this  he  must  get  a  special 
act  of  the  Legislature.  Of  course  >  he  had  Vanderbilt 
and  Central,  with  all  their  patronage,  with  which  to 
contend,  and  a  bitter  fight  it  proved  to  be ;  but  in  those 
days  Daniel  Drew  seemed  invincible  in  court,  and  the 
bill  passed,  Erie  re-issuing  stock  and  extending  its  lines. 
He  was  a  member  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
and  to  him  is  that  religious  body  indebted  for  that  grand 
institution,  ''  Drew  Theological  Seminary."  Many  men 
would  have  made  a  worse  use  of  vast  wealth  than  did 
Daniel  Drew.  He  was  a  man  who  was  quiet ;  he  kept 
his  "points,"  and  was  a  pleasing  conversationalist.  In 
1879  he  died?  leaving  two  children. 


^ 


14  HIDDEN    TREASURB«. 


Russell  Sage. 


THIS  wonderful  man  was  bom  at  Verona,  Oneida 
County,  New  York,  over  sixty  years  ago.  In  early 
lifejhe  determined  to  earn  all  that  he  could,  and  siDend 
less  than  he  earned.  When  he  arrived  at  the  age  of  fif- 
teen, he  removed  to  Troy,  and  entered  the  grocery  store 
of  one  of  his  brothers.  Until  eighteen  years  of  age  he 
remained  here  as  a  clerk  when  he  had  saved  money  enough 
to  buy  an  interest  in  another  store  of  which  another 
brother  was  proprietor.  Here  he  remained  several  years 
in  successful  trade,  when  the  partnership  was  dissolved^ 
He  next  turned  his  attention  to  the  wholesale  trade, 
dealing  in  grain,  flour,  pork,  beef,  etc.,  the  most  of  these 
ventures  proving  successful. 

His  towns'  people , recognizing  his  business  ability 
elected  him  alderman  for  seven  years,  and  later,  treas 
urer  of  Rensselaer  county.  His  fidelity  in  these  trusts 
won  for  him  a  seat  in  Congress,  and  he  was  re-electec 
Dy  an  increased  majority,  serving  both  terms  with  greal 
credit  to  himself  and  party. 

In  1860  he  had  succeeded  so  well  that  he  could  sho\^ 
$200,000  on  the  credit  side  of  his  bank  account.  Seekins 
new  fields  to  conquer,  he  naturally  gravitated  to  the 
money  centre.  New  York.  Since  that  time  Russell  Sage 
has  been  as  favorably  known  in  Wall  street  as  any  broke) 
in  the  country.  He  occupies  an  office  in  the  same  build 
ing  vnth  Gould,  and  scores  of  tbe  leading  spirits,  with 
whom  he  mingles  daily.  He  attends  strictly  to  business, 
and  never  even  smokes.    Mr.  Sage  deals  in  everything 


OUR  country's  wealth,  and  who  possess  it.        15 

which  he  deems  "  an  investment," — banks,  railroad  stock, 
real  estate,  all  receive  his  attention.  He  is  a  very  cau- 
tious operator,  and  cannot,  by  any  possible  means,  be 
induced  into  a  ''blind  pool."  He  has,  however,  been 
very  successful  in  the  ''street,"  and  it  is  said  has  built 
over  three  thousand  miles  of  railroad.  Russell  Sage 
might  easily  be  mistaken  for  a  church  deacon,  instead  of 
the  keen  operator  that  he  is.  However,  no  one  in  the 
"street"  will  give  away  "points"  to  his  friends  sooner 
than  he.  The  Troy  Times  once  mentioned  several 
people  who  said  that  Mr.  Sage  had  pointed  out  to  them 
investments,  of  which  they  could  never  have  known  but 
for  him,  each  investment  having  yielded  them  thousands 
of  dollars.  He  often  gives  friends  the  benefit  of  his 
splendid  opportunities,  which  makes  him  a  general 
favorite  among  all  brokers.  Mr.  Sage  enjoys  the  confi- 
dence and  friendship  of  some  of  the  leading  operators, 
among  whom  are  Jay  Gould. 

He  is  a  man  of  marked  ability,  and  honesty.  He 
never  fails  to  meet  any  of  his  obligations,  nor  will 
he  allow  others  to  neglect  theirs.  Of  course,  he  is  care- 
ful what  he  agrees  to  do,  but  always  does  just  as  he 
agrees,  regardless  of  cost.  For  this  reason  he  is  known 
in  Wall  street  as  "Old  Integrity."  Russell  Sage  is  a 
shrewd,  close  calculator,  and  is  worth  many  millions, 
the  result  of  improving  his  oppoi-tunities.  He  is  a  con- 
sistent member  of  the  Evangelical  Church,  and  is  very 
charitable.  Long  may  such  men  live,  for  we  have  many 
worse. 


16  HIDDEJf   TREASimES. 


Cornelius  Vanderbilt. 


YANDERBILT,  a  synonym  for  wealth  and  luxury.  IVho 
indeed  has  not  wished  that  he  could  have  at  least  a 
i!anall  part,  of  the  vast  wealth  possessed  by  the  Vander- 
bilts  ?  Yet,  when  Cornelius  Yanderbilt  was  a  boy,  he 
enjoyed  far  less  privileges  to  make  money  than  the  ma- 
jority who  now  look  on  and  wish  ;  but  Cornelius  Yander- 
bilt differed  from  other  boys  of  his  age.  One  difference 
was  his  strong  determination. 

It  was  then,  much  as  it  it  is  now,  boys  liked  to  spend 
their  money  and  have  a  good  time. 

It  was  a  common  saying  in  the  neighborhood  where 
he  lived,  *  that  when  Corneel.  Vanderbilt  concludes  to 
do  anything  it  will  certainly  be  done.'  A  ship  stranded 
off  the  shore;  young  Cornelius'  father  took  the  contract 
to  transfer  the  cargo  to  New  York  city.  This  was  a  job 
requiring  many  teams  and  a  force  of  men  to  carry  the 
produce  to  a  different  part  of  the  island  where  they 
were  to  be  taken  by  water  to  New  York.  Although  but 
twelve  years  old,  young  Yanderbilt  was  given  control  of 
this  part  of  the  work.  His  father,  by  accident,  neg- 
lected to  furnish  him  the  money  with  which  to  pay  his 
Ferriage.  Here  he  was,  a  lad  twelve  years  old,  with  no 
money,  in  charge  of  a  lot  of  horses  which  must  be  fer- 
ried over  at  a  cost  of  over  five  dollars.  He  hesitated 
but  a  moment;  walking  boldly  up  to  the  hotel  proprietor 
he  said:  "  Sir,  I  am  here  vntliout  money,  by  accident;  if 
you  will  kindly  advance  me  the  money  to  pay  the  fer- 
riage, I  will  leave  a  horse  as  your  security."    The  pro- 

1 


UJ 
CO 

or 

CL 
QC 
UJ 

I- 


OUR  country's  wealth   and  who  possess  it.       17 

prietor  was  a  perfect  stranger  to  Vanderbilt,  but  he  was 
struck  with  such  enterprise.  The  money  was  advance(} 
and  the  horse  redeemed  within  forty-eight  hours. 

Vanderbilt  wanted  a  small  boat.  On  the  tenth  day  oi 
May,  1810,  he  went  to  his  mother  and  asked  for  the 
money  with  which  to  buy  it.  There  was  a  very  rough 
piece  of  land  on  the  parental  farm  which  had  never  been 
plowed.  His  mother  told  him  that  if  he  would  plow, 
drag  and  plant  that  field  to  corn  within  seventeen 
days,  she  would  buy  the  boat  for  him.  It  was  a  hard 
job  ,  doubtless, the  mother  considered  it  an  impossi- 
ble one.  Vanderbilt,  however,  seemed  never  to  rec- 
ognize such  a  word,  as  can't.  He  set  about  the  work 
at  once,  and  hard  as  it  seemed  to  be,  the  task  was  accom- 
plished, the  boat  was  bought,  and  Vanderbilt  was  a  happy 
boy.  He  had  earned  it.  Now,  as  Vanderbilt  did  not 
want  this  boat  for  pleasure,  he  at  once  began  business 
carrying  produce  from  Staten  Island  to  New  York  city. 
When  the  wind  was  unfavorable  he  used  oars  or  a  pole 
to  aid  his  sails,  thus,  hi*  produce  was  always  on  time. 
People  said,  "Send  your  stuff  by  Vanderbilt  and  you  can 
depend  on  its  being  in  season.''  Now  Vanderbilt  had  to 
give  all  of  his  earnings  during  the  day  time  to  his 
parents,  so  he  worked  nights,  but  his  father  also  required 
one-half  of  what  he  earned  nights,  thus  his  oppoi'tunities 
were  not  as  great  as  one  might  think.  He  worked  very 
hard  and  at  the  end  of  three  years, it  was  found  that 
Corneel.  Vanerbilt  had  saved  for  himself  over,  or  about 
$3,000  and  the  best  of  all,  had  earned  the  reputation  of 
being  the  best  boatman  on  the  river.  While  others  were 
smoking  and  drinking,  ^having  fun  while  they  were 
young,  for  when  would  they  if  not  then?"  Vanderbilt 
was  either  earning  more  money  working  over  time,  or 


18  HIDDEN   TREASURES. 

at  least  saving  what  he  had  earned,  home  asleep  recruit- 
ing for  the  next  day's  labor. 

He  wished  to  marry  a  Miss  Johnson,  but  could  not  un- 
less his  parents  would  release  him  from  all  parental 
restrictions.  He  was  only  nineteen,  yet  luckily  for  the 
young  people  the  Isidj  was  a  favorite  of  the  father;  the 
desired  permission  was  obtained  and  henceforth  Yander- 
bilt  had  the  exclusive  benefit  of  his  labor.  As  he  had 
begun,  so  he  continued,  and  at  the  age  of  twenty-three  he 
was  worth  about  $9,000.  In  1817  he  became  captain  of 
the  first  steam  boat  that  ever  run  between  New  York 
and  New  Brunswick,  New  Jersey,  at  a  salary  of  $1,000 
per  year.  His  wife  proved  to  be  a  helpmeet  in  the  truest 
sense  of  the  word,  she  at  this  time  keeping  hotel  at  New 
Brunswick  and  making  no  small  amount  herself.  Seven 
years  passed  and  Vanderbilt  was  made  superintendent  of 
the  company  of  which  he  had  been  an  emploj^e.  If  a 
man  has  ability  and  applies  it, his  talent  will  not  remain 
hid  ^  under  a  bushel.'  His  ability  and  indomitable 
energy  brought  the  "Gibbons  Line"  up  to  paying  $40,000 
a  year.  Seeing  a  chance,  for  which  he  was  ever  on  the 
•^lei-t,  he  leased  the  ferry  between  New  York  and  Eliza- 
beth, New  Jersey,  for  fourteen  years,  put  on  new  boats 
aiid  it  became  a  very  jirofitable  venture.  In  1829  he  left 
the  ''Gibbons  Line,"  and  began  to  operate  on  the  Hudson 
and  between  New  York  and  Boston;  also  on  the  Dela- 
ware river.  He  would  start  an  opposition  line,  and  either 
drive  off  the  old  line  or  effect  a  compromise.  In  1849  he 
obtained  from  the  Nicaraguan  Government  a  charter  for 
a  steamship  company.  He  next  went  to  England  and 
raised  the  extra  funds  needed.  He  then  went  personally 
and  inspected  the  whole  route  that  was  used,  and  by  a 
system  of  cables  fastened  to  trees,  shortened  the  same 


OUR  country's  wealth,  and  who  possess  it.       19 

about  seven  himdred  miles  over  all  existing  lines.  He 
placed  steamers  on  each  ocean  and  cut  the  fare  from 
New  York  to  San  Francisco  one-half.  Soon  he  had 
destroyed  all  opiDOsition  and  then  made  immense  profits. 
Afterward  he  sold  out  for  two  millions. 

Mr.  Yanderbilt,  like  all  successful  men,  made  finance 
a  study  ;  he  foresaw  that  there  were  great  profits  to  be 
realized  in  the  near  future  in  the  undeveloped  railway  sys- 
tems in  the  country.  To  see  a  chance  was  to  at  once  set 
about  planning  to  improve  it.  He  at  once  began  to  with- 
draw his  money  from  the  water  and  invest  in  railroads, 
which  were  then  coming  rapidly  to  the  front.  The  wis- 
dom of  Vanderbilt  can  be  seen,  for  at  the  beginning  of  the 
war,  which  he  had  been  long  expecting,  his  money  was  all 
transferred  from  the  water,  and  thus  his  interests  were 
not  jeopardised  by  the  war  made  upon  our  commerce. 
He,  however,  had  ov/ned  so  many  vessels,  that  he  had 
long  since  been  known  as  Commodore  Yanderbilt,  in  fact 
few  people  to-day  know  him  by  any  other  name.  He,  at 
the  beginning  of  hostilities,  presented  the  government 
with  a  magnificent  steamship,  the  'Vanderbilt,''  worth 
$800,000.  When  he  entered  the  railroad  business  he  was 
estimated  at  from  thirty-five  to  forty  millions.  He  had 
dealt  somewhat  in  New  York  and  New  Haven,  and  now 
began  to  buy  Harlem  when  it  was  in  a  most  helpless  anc 
depressed  condition.  He  advanced  a  large  sum  to  the 
company  when  it  was  in  need,  and  for  this,  among  othei 
things,  he  was  made  its  President  in  1863.  By  judicious 
management  and  influences  common  in  '  The  street,'  he 
successfully  run  Harlem  from  thirty  to  two  hundred  and 
eighty-five.  Such  a  man  was  just  what  the  New  York 
Central  railroad  desired,  and  after  this  great  '  bulling ' 
movement  he  became  President  of  that  road.     All  that 


20  HIDDEN    TREASURES. 

was  needed  now  was  the  Hudson  River  road  and  this  he 
bought  outright,  becoming  President  of  the  New  York 
Central  and  Hudson  River  Rail  Road,  extending  from 
New  York  to  Buffalo. 

At  one  time  there  was  a  bill  to  be  voted  on  at 
Albany ;  the  bill  was  in  the  interest  of  Harlem ; 
Mr.  Yanderbilt  was  sure  it  would  pass,  but  Daniel 
Drew,  his  antagonist,  who  ever  fought  Harlem  or 
Central  as  they  were  against  Erie,  caused  a  counter 
movement  to  be  made  which  defeated  the  bill.  Yander- 
bilt heard  of  it,  and  of  course  was  disappointed  but 
made  no  foolish  protests  with  the  treacherous  ^friends' 
at  the  capitol.  In  the  meantime  these  people  were  sell- 
ing Harlem  short  for  future  deliver}^,  expecting  that  the 
stock  would  ''  take  a  tumble ''  when  it  became  known 
that  the  bill  was  defeated.  As  before  said  Yanderbilt 
said  nothing,  but  quietly  bought  up  every  scrap  of  stock 
there  was  to  be  found  loose.  The  fatal  day  came  but 
Harlem  stood  firm.  The  derelict  Assemblymen  were 
thundeiBtruck  when  they  had  to  buy  at  a  greatly  en- 
hanced price,  and  many  of  the  would-be  victors  were 
ruined.  In  1873  the  Lake  Shore  &  Michigan  Southern 
railroad  was  operated  in  connection  with  the  Yanderbilt 
system,  making  a  Palace  Car  route  from  New  York  city 
bo  Chicago.  From  New  York  to  Buffalo  a  quadruple 
track,  thence  a  double  track. 

Among  the  charities  of  Mr.  Yanderbilt  is  a  gift  of 
three-quarters  of  a  million  to  the  University  in  Nash- 
ville, Tennessee,  which  bears  his  name.  He  died  in 
1877  worth  about  eighty  millions. 


OUR  country's  wealth,  and  who  possess  it.      21 


Amos  Lawrence. 


AMOS  LAWRENCE  was  born  April  22nd,  1786.  He 
was  a  weak  child,  consequently  could  not  attend 
school,  but  his  mother  did  not  neglect  him.  When  only 
thirteen  years  old  he  became  a  clerk  in  a  country  store. 
In  this  store  was  kept  everything  in  the  hardware  line, 
from  a  plow  to  a  needle  ;  in  the  textile  line,  from  a  horse- 
blanket  to  a  pocket  handkerchief ;  then  you  could  buy 
the  productions  usually  found  in  a  vegetable  garden, — 
everything  was  kept,  even  to  Jamaica  rum  and  drugs  for 
the  sick  ;  a  good  place,  indeed,  for  a  bright,  active  boy 
to  gain  new  ideas.  Each  country  store,  in  those  days, 
had  its  bar,  and  the  clerks  were  as  likely  to  be  called  on 
to  mix  drinks,  as  they  were  to  be  asked  to  measure  off 
dry  goods,  and  it  was  considered  as  honorable.  Not  only 
this,  but  it  was  customary  for  clerks  to  take  a  drink 
themselves,  but  young  Lawrence  determined  to  neither 
drink  nor  smoke.  True,  he  liked  the  taste  of  liquor,  and 
enjoyed  a  quiet  smoke,  but  he  argued  that  such  pleas- 
ures, not  only  eat  up  profits  already  earned,  but  left  the 
system  in  a  poor  condition  to  earn  more.  When  we  con- 
sider that  he  was  a  mere  lad  of  thirteen,  or  at  best  four- 
teen, when  he  had  decided  upon  this  honorable  course, 
and  when  we  think  that  at  least,  for  the  time  being^these 
luxuries  would  have  cost  nothing,  we  are  constrained  to 
say,  no  wonder  he  became  a  rich  man. 

If  our  young  men  would  only  save  the  money  they 
yearly  smoke  up  and  spend  for  other  needless  things, 
we    would  have  clearer  headed  and    much  wealthier 


22  HIDDEN    TREASURES. 

men.  Our  j^oung  men  all  desire  to  gain  wealth  and  the 
highest  enjoyments  possible  in  this  world,  but  are  not 
willing  to  pay  for  them.  If  they  would  examine  the 
lives  of  a  great  many  of  our  most  wealthy  and  influential 
men  of  to-day,  they  would  be  surprised  to  learn  how  few 
even  smoke. 

If  you  see  a  man  with  a  high  hat,  gaudily  dressed, 
smoking  and  seemingly  inviting  your  attention  at  some 
horse  trot,  where  he  is  making  a  great  display  of  wealth 
in  the  w^ay  of  bets,  you  can  set  it  down  as  pretty  certain 
that  that  man  is  a  clerk  working  for  $10  or  $15  per 
week,  or  at  best,  a  mere  curb-stone  broker  who  will 
never  rise  to  anything  higher.  Eeal  wealth  and  distinc- 
tion never  invite  your  attention.  One  would  hardly  take 
that  plain  old  gentleman,  walking  along  the  street  yon- 
der, for  other  than  a  country  deacon,  yet  the  check  of 
Russell  Sage  will  be  recognized  and  honored  to  the 
amount  of  millions.  Jay  Gould  never  enjoys  himself 
more  than  when  at  home. 

We  spend  as  a  nation  now,  every  year,  nine  hundred 

MILLIONS  FOR  LIQUOR  and  THREE  HUNDRED  and  FIFTY  MIL- 
LIONS for  TOBACCO.  Total,  one  billion,  two  hundred  and 
FIFTY  MILLIONS.  One  billiou,  two  hundred  and  fifty  mil- 
lions thrown  away.  More  than  twice  what  we  use  for 
bread  and  meat.  Then  look  at  that  vast  waste  of  un- 
earned wages.  Man  can't  do  two  things  well  at  one 
time.  In  our  large  cities  we  have,  of  late,  seen  drunken 
men,  with  pipes  in  their  mouths,  carrying  about  the 
streets  a  banner  inscribed,  "  bread  or  blood."  They  pro- 
pose to  make  those  who  have  worked  intelligently  for 
money,  now  divide.  Would  it  not  look  far  more  sensi- 
ble if  the  banner  bore   the  inscription,    henceforth,  I 


our' country's   wealth,  and  who  possess  it.      23 

will  boycott  the  tobacconist,  and  will  vote  for  no  man 
who  is  not  pledged  to  suppress  the  saloon  oligarchy  ? 

Amos  Lawrence  had  not  the  benefit  of  the  philanthrop- 
ic teaching  of  our  age,  but  he  had  a  common  sense,  and  a 
sense  of  taste  and  judgment  far  in  advance  of  his  time. 
These  were  the  principles  with  which  he  laid  the  founda- 
tion to  that  great  fortune  and  enviable  reputation  which 
he  lived  to  enjoy,  and  which  his  name  will  ever  recall. 
We  ha.ve  seen  that  goodhabits  were  the  foundation  of  his 
success.  He  also  improved  his  opportunities.  He  became 
perfectly  familiar  with  the  drug  department  of  the  store. 
He  determined  early  in  life  to  become  a  wealthy  and  in- 
fluential man.  To  determine  to  do  anything  is  half  the 
battle.  "Doubt  indulged  becomes  doubt  realized.'^  "To 
think  a  thing  impossible  is  to  make  it  so."  "Courage  is 
victory,  timidity  is  defeat.''  Men  who  understand  these 
maxims  are  men  w^ho  invariably  succeed.  I  say  invaria- 
bly— a  man  may  think  he  understands  when  he  is  grop- 
ing in  midnight  darkness.  A  young  man  who  really  is 
destined  to  succeed,  not  only  intends  to  become  a  rich 
man,  or  whatever  he  aspires  to  be,  but  lays  plans  to  that 
end,  and  is  not  discouraged  if  they  are  blasted.  He  only 
recognizes  that  he  is  foiled,  for  the  time  being,  and  never 
doubts  his  ability  to  succeed  ultimately.  There  is  a 
difference  between  a  blustering  braggadocio  and  a  quiet, 
unassuming  confidence  in  one's  self.  One  leads  to  cer- 
tain victory,  the  other, to  as  certain  defeat. 

Young  Lawrence  had  served  his  seven  long  years  of 
apprenticeship,  and  had  no  better  opportunity  presented 
itself ,  he  would  have  succeeded,  for  he  had  his  plans 
carefully  laid  to  remain  in  Groton,  and  if  he  had,  he 
would  have  succeeded  .  But  a  merchant  who  had  seen 
him  at  the  store  of  his  employer,  no  sooner  learned  of 


24  HIDDEN   TBBASURE*. 

his  release  than  he  immediately  hired  him  to  come  to 
Boston  to  enter  his  store  there.  ''Seest  thou  a  man  diligent 
in  his  business,  he  shall  stand  before  kings,  he  shall  not 
stand  before  mean  men.'^  Thither  he  went  part  of  the  way 
on  foot ;  the  rest  of  the  way  with  an  accommodating  neigh- 
bor who  was  driving  in  that  direction.  He  determined 
to  make  for  himself  here  a  record  for  honesty,  and  so 
well  did  he  succeed,  that  the  next  year  he  started  busi- 
ness for  himself,  his  principal  capital  being  his  reputa- 
tion and  acknowledged  ability.  He  developed  a  system 
in  his  business ;  he  paid  every  bill  on  the  spot ;  if  he 
could  not  pay  cash,  instead  of  the  regular  custom  of  book 
accounts,  he  gave  his  note,  thus  no  complications  could 
arise  to  embarrass  him.  He  knew  when  the  money  was 
expected  on  every  bill,  and  made  his  calculation,  and 
Was  never  known  to  be  taken  by  surprise.  He  was  rea- 
sonably cautious — he  never  would  promise  to  do  what 
he  might  possibly  be  unable  to  accomplish.  He  pros- 
pered— of  course  he  would.  Such  business  principles, 
pushed  by  system  as  Lawrence  pushed  them,  must  bring 
success  to  any  young  man. 

Another  thing,  to  any  one  who  may  now  imagine  he, 
perhaps,  entered  business  on  the  tide  of  prosperity,  we 
desire  simply  to  say,  on  the  contrary,  from  1808  to  1815 
was  one  of  the  dullest  periods  our  mercantile  history  can 
recount.  No,  "  luck  "  did  not  favor  him,  but "  pluck  ^'  did. 
He  pushed  his  mercantile  business  for  years,  amassing 
an  immense  fortune.  Our  country  was  then  new,  and  he 
had  to  import  most  of  his  merchandise  from  England, 
but  as  he  ever  made  a  study  of  his  business,  concluded 
that  he  would  start  manufacturing  industries  here,  which 
would  prove  not  only  profitable  to  himself,  but  of  inesti- 
mable value  to  us  as  a  nation.    In  accordance  with  thes« 


OUR  country's  wealth,  and  who  possess  it.      25 

motives,  he  was  largely  instrumental  in  connection 
with  the  Lowells  in  building  up  the  flourishing  cities  of 
Lowell  and  Lawrence. 

He  never  speculated  in  stocks.  Young  men,  there  is 
no  money  in  stocks  to  the  average  man.  Not  even  in 
legitimate  stock  dealing,  to  say  nothing  of  the  numer- 
ous watered  concerns.  We  were  looking  over  a  paper 
recently  when  our  attention  was  attracted  to  a  para- 
graph which  explained  that  in  a  transaction  which  in- 
volved 8,000  bushels  of  wheat, it  was  found  that  the  odds 
against  the  buyer  was  over  22  per  cent.  While  wheat 
is  not  stocks,  still  a  good  rule  would  be  never  to  go  into 
anything  unless  the  chances  are  at  least  equal. 

Amos  Lawrence  once  said:  "Young  man,  base  all 
your  actions  upon  a  sense  of  right,  and  in  doing  so, 
never  reckon  the  cost."  What  a  glorious  principle  for 
any  young  man — a  principle  he  would  find  hard  to 
follow  in  many  stock  speculations.  "  Even  exchange  is 
no  robbery."  It  is  not  even  exchange  to  bet  and  take  a 
man's  money ;  and  it  makes  little  difference  whether 
you  bet  on  a  horse's  gait  or  the  grain  he  will  eat  next 
month.  At  another  time  he  said  :  "  Good  principles, 
good  temper,  and  good  manners  will  carry  a  young  man 
through  the  world  much  better  than  he  can  get  along 
with  the  absence  of  either."  His  sayings  are  numerous, 
yet  every  one  is  worthy  of  attention  ;  all  of  them  have 
a  golden  thought  for  old  and  young. 

Mr.  Lawrence  did  not  give  away  in  large  amounts  to 
institutions  of  learning,  but  he  kept  two  rooms  in  his 
house  wholly  for  the  storage  of  articles  designed  to 
relieve  poor  people.  One  contained  clothing  of  every 
description;  the  other,  food  and  other  necessaries  of  life. 
He  gave  away  during  his  life,  over  $700,000,  and  when 


26  HIDDEN    TREASURES. 

he  died  people  mourned  that  he  had  gone,  for  there  were 
none  left  that  could  take  his  place.  Ah  !  this  is  success. 
He  died  December  31st,  1852. 


Horace  B,  Claflin. 


THIS  great  dry-goods  prince  was  born  at  Milfordy 
Massachusetts,  in  1811,  and  his  education  was  at- 
tained in  the  public  schools  of  that  place.  When  he 
became  of  age  he  bought  out  the  store  in  which  he  was 
clerk,  and  in  company  with  another  young  man  began 
business  for  himself.  But  this  place  was  too  small  for 
the  already  expanding  vision  of  both  Claflin  &  Daniels  ; 
they  accordingly  moved  to  Worcester.  The  latter  place 
proving  yet  too  small  for  Claflin,  we  soon  see  him  located 
in  Cedar  street,  New  York,  where  he  finds  himself  some- 
what satisfied  for  a  time.  After  a  period  of  successful 
trade — extending  over  six  years'  time,  the  young  men 
were  compelled  to  find  more  commodious  quarters, 
which  they  found  at  No.  57  Broadway,  and  two  years 
later  they  moved  once  more,  locating  in  the  Trinity 
Building.  1860  came,  their  business  was  found  to 
amount  to  about  $12,000,000  annually,  and  the  firm  re- 
solved to  build  a  store,  for  themselves.  The  result  was 
an  immense  dry-goods  palace.  The  retail  business  was 
entirely  abandoned,  and  Claflin  at  once  sprung  to  the 
front  as  the  leading  wholesale  dry-goods  merchant  of 
America. 

One  day,   about  five  o'clock,  Mr.  Claflin  sat  in  his 
private  office  when  a  young  man,  pale  and  and  carewom 


OUR  country's   wealth,  and  who  possess  it.      27 

timidly  knocked  and  was  asked  in.  "Mr.  Claflin/'  said 
he,  "  I  am  in  need  of  help.  I  have  been  unable  to  meet 
certain  payments  because  certain  parties  have  not  done 
by  me  as  they  agreed.  I  would  like  to  have  $10,000.  I 
come  to  you  because  I  knew  that  you  were  a  friend  of 
my  father,  and  I  thought  possibly  you  might  be  a  friend 
to  me.'^  "  Come  in  and  have  a  glass  of  wine,"  said 
Claflin.  "No,"  said  the  young  man,  "I  never  drink." 
"Have  a  cigar?"  "No,  I  never  smoke."  "Well,"  re- 
plied Claflin,  "  I  am  sorry  but  I  don't  feel  that  I  can  let 
you  have  the  money."  "Very  well,"  replied  the  young 
man,  'T^  thought  perhaps  you  might ;  hence  I  came.  Good 
day,  sir."  " Hold  on,"  said  Claflin.  "  You  don't  drink?" 
" No."     " Nor  smoke ?  "  "  No  sir.''    " Nor  gamble V    "No 

sir ;  I.,  am    superintendent  of  a  Sunday-school,  in 

street."  "  Well,"  said  Claflin,  "  you  shall  have  it."  This 
w^as  characteristic  of  the  man.  This  anecdote  well  illus- 
trates  his  character.    He  was  an  everyday  Christian. 

On  November  14,  1885,  he  passed  away,  leaving  one 
more  gap  in  the  commercial  world,  and  in  the  member- 
ship Plymouth  Church,  of  which  he  had  been  a  member 
many  years.  Probably  no  one  man  missed  him  more  at  the 
time  of  his  death  than  did  Henry  Ward  Beecher,  of 
whom  he  had  long  been  a  devoted  admirer. 


WlliaM'  E.  Dodge, 


WHEN  one  finishes  the  perusal  of  the  life  of  William 
E.  Dodge,  he  feels  a  thrill  of  unbounded  admira- 
tion.   A  man  who  would  resign  his  membership  in  the 


28  HIDDEN   TREASURES. 

Union  League  Club,  because  it  sold  wine  to  its  members; 
who  disposed  of  valuable  investments  in  three  different 
railroads,  when  a  majority  of  the  stockholders  voted  to 
run  Sunday  trains ;  who,  while  carrying  on  a  large  mer- 
cantile business,  and  managing  an  extensive  stock  and 
real  estate  business,  yet  found  time  to  preside  at  the 
Chamber  of  Commerce  and  serve  on  numerous  commit- 
tees, and  held  a  directorship  in  various  banking  insti- 
tutions, is  surely  to  be  admired. 

His  religious  life  was  never  weakened  by  his  pros- 
perity, and  the  more  .money  Grod  blessed  him  with,  the 
more  religious  societies  he  became  connected  with. 

William  E.  Dodge  was  born  in  the  year  1805,  near 
Hartford,  Connecticut.  He  began  at  the  foot  of  the 
ladder,  taking  down  shutters  and  sweeping  out  the  store 
in  which  he  was  employed.  When  twenty-one,  he  went 
into  business  in  a  small  way,  doing  a  retail  business, 
which  prospered,  and  at  the  end  of  three  years  Mr.  Dodge 
felt  able  to  support  a  wife. 

In  1834  he  was  invited  to  become  a  partner  in  the  firm 
with  his  father-in-law,  Mr.  Anson  Phelps,  and  a  brother- 
in-law,  under  the  firm-style  of  Phelps,  Dodge  and  Com- 
pany. This  connection  proved  a  most  profitable  busi- 
ness venture,  and  at  the  end  of  twenty  years  Mr.  Dodge 
was  accounted  a  wealthy  man.  Looking  about  for  in- 
vestments, his  keen  perception  espied  a  vast  fortune  in 
lumber,  and  then  followed  those  vast  accumulations  of 
timber  lands,  by  buying  thousands  of  acres  in  West  Vir- 
ginia, Michigan,  Wisconsin,  Georgia  and  Canada. 

He  also  became  greatly  interested  in  ooal  lands,  and 
as  he  must  find  a  conveyance  to  bring  his  coal  to  mar- 
ket, he  was  naturally  drawn  into  railroad  schemes.  His 
ability  and  enterprise  soon  placed  him  on  the  board  of 


OUR  country's  wealth,  and  who  possess  it.      2'^ 

directors  for  such  roads  as  the  Delaware,  Lack  wanna 
and  Western,  and  New  Jersey  Central,  being  at  one  time 
President  of  the  Houston  and  Texas. 

He  helped  found  several  of  the  most  noted  Insurance 
Companies  in  the  country,  and  was  a  director  until  his 
death,  of  the  Greenwich  Saving  Bank,  City  Bank,  The 
American  Exchange  National  Bank,  the  United  States 
Trust  Company,  the  Bowery  Fire  Insurance  Company, 
and  the  Mutual  Life  Insurance  Company.  He  was  Pres- 
ident of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce,  and  owned  a  very 
large  number  of  saw-mills,  besides  carrying  on  the  reg- 
ular business  of  the  firm.  What  will  those  people,  who 
would  do  this  or  that  if  they  only  had  time,  say  to  all 
this  work  done  by  one  man  who  then  found  time  to  serve 
on  the  board  of  management  of  religious  organizations 
innumerable  ? 

He  was  a  great  temperance  advocate,  giving  thous- 
ands of  dollars  annually  toward  the  support  of  various 
societies.  There  were  others  who  had  wealth,  and  gave 
possibly  as  much  to  the  betterment  of  mankind  as  did 
Dodge,  but  we  cannot  now  recall  any  man  of  great 
wealth  who  would  deny  himself  as  much  personally,  be- 
side giving,  as  he  did.  In  fact  he  seemed  to  be  crowded 
to  death  with  work,  yet  he  never  refused  to  aid  all  who 
Were  worthy  applicants.  For  years  he  gave  away  annu- 
ally over  $200,000,  yet  it  was  found  at  his  death,  Febru- 
ary, 1883,  that  his  wealth  amounted  to  something  like 
$5,000,000,  a  large  share  of  which  was  also  given  to 
charitable  purposes. 


30  HIDDEN    TREASURES. 


Jay  Gould, 


WE  have  written  the  lives  of  journalists,  of  eminent 
statesmen,  but  we  are  now  going  to  write  the  life  of 
one  of  the  most  powerful  men  in  America.  A  man  who  has 
far  greater  influence  over  his  fellow-men  than  many  a 
king  or  emperor,  and  a  man  who  has  played  a  most 
prominent  part  in  the  development  of  our  Republic. 

Such  a  man  is  Jay  Gould  to-day  who  has  risen  to  this 
dizzy  height,  from  a  penniless  boy  on  his  father's  farm, 
which  he  left  at  the  age  of  only  fourteen  to  seek  his 
fortune.  He  asked  his  father's  permission  first,  which 
was  readily  given,  he  thinking  it  would  cure  the  boy  of 
his  restlessness,  and  when  young  Gould  left,  his  father 
fully  expected  to  see  him  again  within  a  few  days,  but 
even  the  father  was  mistaken  in  calculating  the  stick-to- 
it-iveness  of  the  son.  He  at  last  found  employment  in  a 
store  where  he  remained  two  years  when  his  health 
compelled  outdoor  work.  He  therefore  obtained  em- 
ployment carrying  chains  for  some  surveyors  at  $10  a 
month.  These  men  were  making  surveys  from  which 
an  Albany  publishing  firm  expected  to  issue  maps  for 
an  atlas  they  were  getting  out.  Not  only  did  Gould 
carry  the  chains  but  he  improved  every  opportunity  for 
picking  up  points  in  surveying.  We  see  one  character- 
istic of  the  man  plainly  showing  itself  at  this  early  age, 
for  when  the  firm  failed,  Gould  had  the  maps  published 
himself,  and  then  personally  sold  enough  of  them  to 
clear  $1,000.  With  this  start,  he  went  to  Pennsylvania, 
and  was  employed  in  a  tannery.     As  one  sees,   nearly 


OUR  country's  wealth,  and  who  possess  it.      31 

every  successful  man  owes  that  success  largely  to  the 
cultivation  of  pleasing  manners,  so  it  was  with  Gould. 
So  apparent  was  his  ability,  and  so  well  did  he  please 
his  employer,  that  the  man  set  Gould  up  in  business  at 
Gouldsborough,  where  he  cleared  $6,000  within  the  next 
two  years.  Gould  was  not  satisfied  with  this  moderate 
success,  fine  as  it  seemed  to  be  ;  he  only  regarded  these 
enterprises  as  stepping-stones  to  something  higher.  He 
next  enters  the  metropolis  where  he  buys  and  sells  hides 
in  a  small  office  at  No.  49  Gold  street. 

About  this  time  Gould  met  a  young  lady  at  the 
Everett  House,  where  he  lived,  whose  acquaintance  was 
destined  to  have  a  marked  influence  over  his  subsequent 
career.  This  bright,  handsome  girl  attracted  his  atten- 
tion so  unmistakably  that  Miss  Miller  noticed  it.  A 
little  flirtation  took  place  which  ripened  into  a  mutual 
affection,  and  they  were  married  without  waiting  for  the 
parents'  approval,  probably  Gould  knew  better,  as  the 
young  lady,  at  the  time  was  far  above  his  station  in  life 
as  society  would  say,  hence  acted  in  this  matter  as  he 
would  in  any  business  transaction  he  entered. 

Of  course,  this  aroused  Mr.  Miller's  righteous  indig- 
nation, but  he  soon  realized  that  Mr.  Gould  was  a  man 
of  no  ordinary  calibre  and  wisely  changed  his  course  to- 
ward him.  Mr.  Miller  owned  a  large  interest  in  the 
Rensselaer  &  Saratoga  Railroad,  and  young  Gould,  after 
visiting  the  same,  concluded  that  it  could  be  made  to 
pay.  He  accordingly  bought  the  entire  stock  his  father- 
in-law  owned,  notwithstanding  the  stock  was  considered 
all  but  worthless.  He  immediately  disposed  of  all  other 
business,  and  assumed  the  management  of  the  road  by 
buying  up  as  much  of  the  remaining  stock  as  seemed 
necessary  to  give  him  supreme  control.      He  at  once 


^2  HI»DEN   TREASURES. 

became  Manager,  Superintendent  and  Treasurer.  When 
the  stock  had  multiplied  upon  itself  many  times, he  sold 
out,  receiving  in  all  $750,000,  for  his  interest.  This  first 
scheme  illustrates  his  line  of  procedure  in  most  of  those 
seemingly  mysterious  movements  which  have  marked 
his  uniform  success ;  namely,  to  find  some  road  which 
was  almost  worthless  and,  if  he  thought  good  manage- 
ment would  bring  it  up,  secretly  buy  the  controlling 
interest  in  the  line,  and  when  it  reached  a  fair  figure, 
sell.  The  Kutland  &  Washington  was  offering  stock  at 
ten  cents  on  the  dollar ;  he  at  once  bought  it  up  and 
managed  it  so  well  that  he  soon  was  enabled  to  sell  at 
120,  making,  as  most  people  would  think,  a  fortune. 

Cleveland  &  Pittsburg  was  for  a  long  time  in  a  pre- 
carious condition,  perceiving  which,  Mr.  Gould  bought 
up  all  the  stock  he  could  find,  and  threw  his  whole 
ability  and  experience  into  the  development  of  the 
same.  The  stock  soon  took  an  upward  move,  and  when 
it  reached  120  he  sold  his  twenty-five  thousand  shares. 
We  next  see  him  buying  Union  Pacific  at  fifteen.  This 
stock  kept  falling,  but  while  others  sold  continually  at  a 
sacrifice,  and  seemed  glad  to  unload  at  any  figure,  the 
lower  it  went  the  more  Gould  bought.  After  securing  a 
controlling  interest  as  desired,  he  began  to  develop  the 
iron  industries  along  the  line,  which  of  course  soon  gave 
the  road  business.  This  and  other  causes  soon  set  Union 
Pacific  "  booming,"  and  the  stock  began  to  rise.  No 
sooner,  however,  did  the  disappointed  capitalists  see 
their  mistake  in  selling  than  the  cry  was  raised:  ''  That 
is  Gould's  road  and  if  you  touch  it  you  will  surely  be 
burnt."  But  despite  all  this  the  stock  gradually  rose, 
and  in  1879  Mr.  Gould  sold  the  whole  hundred  thousand 
shares  that  he  owned  to  a  syndicate.   It  must  not  be  sup- 

2 


OUR  country's  wealth,  and  who  possess  it.      33 

posed,  however,  that  Mr.  Gould  sold  to  satisfy  public 
clamor — Mr.  Gould  is  not  that  kind  of  a  man. 

How  much  he  was  worth  when  he  went  into  Erie  no 
one  knows,  but  it  was  no  inconsiderable  amount.  After 
Mr.  Drew's  suit  with  Yanderbilt,  whereby  the  latter  lost 
seven  millions,  Mr.  Gould  was  made  President  of  Erie, 
and  the  capital  stock  was  increased  to  two  hundred  and 
thirty-five  thousand  shares,  which  stood  about  fifty- 
seven  and  one-half  million.  This  brought  the  price 
down  to  44.  It  was  determined  to  sink  Erie  still  lower, 
so  Gould,  Fisk  and  Drew  locked  up  greenbacks  to  the 
amount  of  one  million  four  hundred  thousand.  By  a 
false  movement  on  Drew's  part,  which  his  partners  con- 
sidered treacherous,  they  accordingly  lost,  and  at  once 
unlocked  greenbacks,  thereby  stock  advanced  and  Drew^, 
instead  of  gaining,  lost  one  million  five  hundred  thous- 
and, as  he  was  seven  thousand  shares  short.  The  price 
of  the  shares  continued  upward  and  Gould  was  obliged 
to  get  it  down  by  some  means  in  order  to  save  himself. 
He  therefore  inaugurated  a  ^^  bull  "  movement  on  gold. 
A.  R.  Oorbin,  brother-in-law  of  the  President,  Mr.  Grant, 
was  selected  to  sound  the  government,  who  reported 
that  it  was  not  intended  to  put  any  gold  on  the  market 
for  the  present,  at  least.  The  clique  at  once  bought 
millions  more  of  gold  than  was  to  be  had  in  the  city  out- 
side of  the  Sub-Treasury.  Up,  up,  went  gold ;  130  is 
reached,  and  next  133^,  then  134 ;  still  the  order  is  buy ; 
buy  all  that  is  for  sale.  The  price  reaches  144,  but 
nothing  daunted,  the  clique  still  buy  in  order  to  force 
the  shorts  to  cover ;  yet  on  up  it  goes.  Black  Friday 
week  is  upon  them,  but  Jay  Gould  is  now  selling  while 
others  are  still  buying  right  and  left.  Of  course,  he  still 
pretends  to  buy,  but  is  secretly  selling  at  165.    At  last 


34  HIDDEN   TREASURES. 

the  crash  came,  when  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  sold 
four  millions  on  the  street,  and  Gould  is  nearly  the  only 
one  who  is  safe.     This  may  look  crooked— it  certainly  is 
not  Puritan,  but  there  are  features  of  Jay  Gould's  suc- 
cess which  are  not  praiseworthy  ;   however,  we  claim 
there  are  many  things  that  are  worthy  of    imitation, 
hence  it  is  here  given  in  detail.    He  next  bought  Kansas 
&  Texas  at  8  and  run  it  to  48.    He  purchased  Wabash  at 
5,  and  this,  under  his  management,  rose  to  80  preferred. 
Where  Mr.  Gould  has  shown  the  greatest  skill  in  his 
line,  is  his  connection  with  the  transactions  with  the 
Western  Union.      Desiring  to   secure  control  of  that 
company,  he  went  into  American  Union,  and  within  one 
year  it  was  a  formidable  rival,  which  he  substituted  for 
the    Western    Union  .wires    on    his    roads,    and    that 
company's  stock  fell  from  116  to  88.    If  it  is  true,  as 
stated,  that  Gould  was  short  30,000,  he  must  have  cleared 
on  this  one  transaction  $840,000.    This  method  is  so  un- 
like his  usual  tactics  that  we  are  inclined  to  disbelieve 
it ;  however,  his  dealings  all  through,  it  is  claimed,  seem 
to  prove  it.    He  next  caused  a  war  of  rates  to  be  an- 
nounced between  his  company  and  Western  Union,  and 
of  course,  the  stock  of  the  latter  dropped  still  lower. 
The  story  was  then  circulated  that  he  was  to  become  a 
director  of  Western  Union,  and  no  war  would  take  place; 
up  that  stock  went  to  104.    But  when  the  day  came  for 
the  election,  no  Gould  was  to  be  seen,  and  back  down  it 
tumbled.    It  is  reasonalDly  supposable  that  Gould  profited 
by  each  of  these  fluctuations.    American  Union  became 
a  fixed  thing,  and  Western  Union  becoming  alarmed  at 
renewed  rumors  of  war,  at  once  caused  Mr.  Gould  to  be 
seen,  and  he  to-day  owns  twenty  millions  of  Western 
Union.    His  Missouri,  Pacific  and  other  lines,  together 


OUR  country's  wealth,  and  who  possess  it.      35 

with    his    elevated    railroad    schemes,    are    somewhat 
familar  topics  with  our  readers. 

The  career  of  such  a  m.an  is  a  type  and  a  proof  of  the 
progress  of  our  land  and  the  boundless  opportunities 
that  are  open  to  energy  and  ability.    Jay  Gould  has  at- 
tained this  dizzy  height  from  poverty  and  obscurity. 
Unlike  many  rich  men  he  is  not  a  "  fast ''  man.    He  is 
an  excellent  husband  and  father ;  he  is  never  so  happy, 
seemingly,  as  when  at  home  sharing  the  family  hearth, 
while  others,  who  are  more  widely  respected,   are  at 
their  clubs.    Jay  Gould  has  been  the  subject  of  much 
abuse  ;  indeed,  what  great  men  have  not  been  ?    He  is 
often  described  as  a  heartless  oppressor  of  the  poor  and 
an  enemy  of  his  country.     These  accusations  can  often 
be  traced  to  jealous  rivals.    While  he  has  made  millions 
in  the  new  systems  he  has  opened  in  the  West,  our  ter* 
ritories  and  new  States  have  been  wonderfully  developed 
and  enriched  billions  of  dollars.    We  honestly  believe 
that  the  wonderful  growth  of  the  Western  country  would 
have  been  utterly  impossible  but  for  such  men  as  Gould. 
If  there  had  not  been  money  in  it  their  energy  would 
have  been  lacking,  and  without  that  energy  they  must 
have  lain  dormant  until  other  capitalists  had  opened 
the  way  to  progress.    That  it  takes  a  vast  capital  to 
develop  the  resources  in  a  new  country  must  be  plain  to 
every  one.    Show  me  a  town  which  is  blessed  with  men 
of  capital  and  enterprise,  and  I  will  show  you  a  town 
that  is  prosperous.    Show  me  a  town  which  has  little 
of  either,  and  I  will  show  you  a  town  in  which  you 
would  hate  to  live. 

Mr.  Gould  appears  to  be  a  man  whom  nothing  would 
excite;  and  one  of  his  brokers  says  of  him  :  "  Tou  never 
can  tell  from  his  expression  when  he  reads  a  telegram 


36.  HIDDEN   TREASURES. 

whether  he  has  made  five  millions  or  lost  ten."  Reti- 
cence is  one  secret  of  Mr.  Gould's  success.  He  absolutely 
cannot  be  induced  to  say  anything  which  he  desires 
kept.  He  is  on  the  whole  the  most  incomprehensible  of 
New  Yorkers.  He  is  an  embodiment  of  the  money-mak- 
ing faculty.  It  would  be  a  hard  question  to  tell  what 
Gould  is  worth.  I  know  men  who  believe  that  he  is  to- 
day the  richest  citizen  in  New  York.  I  know  others 
who  are  confident  that  he  is  not  worth  over  one  million, 
and  others  who  are  certain  that  he  is  on  the  eve  of 
bankruptcy,  but  this  last  is  preposterous. 

His  wealth  is,  of  course,  subject  to  fluctuation,  and 
possibly  Mr.  Gould  himself  could  not  tell  its  exact  mag- 
nitude ;  certainly  no  one  knows,  unless  he  does,  what 
the  precise  amount  is  ;  but  the  writer  would  say  at  least 
seventy-five  millions.  Indeed,  if  the  truth  was  known, 
we  would  not  be  surprised  if  it  would  amount  to 
nearly  one  hundred  millions. 

He  is  incessantly  engaged  in  great  operations,  and 
these  cannot  be  managed  without  vast  sums.  He  is 
determined  that  no  one  shall  be  acquainted  with  his 
affairs.  Despite  this  outward  immobility,  the  strain  of 
these^colossal  operations  upon  his  brain  and  nerves  can- 
not be  otherwise  than  very  wearing.  It  [is  said  that  he 
is  troubled  with  sleeplessness,  and  that  many  of  his  gi- 
gantic schemes  are  worked  out  while  he  is  lying  in  bed 
awake.  Occasionally  he  gets  up  at  night,  lights  the  gas, 
walks  the  floor  and  tears  paper  into  bits.  It  may  be  re- 
membered that  Fisk  testified  on  his  investigation  by  the 
Congressional  Committee  respecting  the  transactions  of 
Black  Friday,  that  he  observed  Jay  Gould  tearing  up 
paper  and  throwing  the  pieces  into  the  waste-basket, 
and  thus  he  knew  that  his  partner  had  some  work  on 


OUR  oountry's  wealth,  and  who  possess  it.      37 

hand.  He  scarcely  ever  smiles  and  never  lifts  his  voice 
above  a  conversational  tone.  He  has  no  friends  so  far 
as  known,  but  a  host  of  enemies. 

His  life  is  in  great  speculations.  His  greatest  crime 
in  the  eyes  of  his  fellow-speculators  is,  that  he  succeeds 
so  well  in  doing  to  Wall  Street,  what  Wall  Street  is  per- 
petually,but  vainly  trying  to  do  to  him. 


John  Wannamaker. 


IN  the  summer  of  1838,  John  Wannamaker  was  born  in 
Philadelphia.  His  father  was  a  brick-maker,  and 
while  out  of  school  mornings,  nights  and  Saturdays,  the 
boy  John  was  engaged  in  turning  bricks  which  were  laid 
in  the  sun  to  dry.  Thus  early  those  habits  of  industry 
were  instilled  into  the  lad  who,  by  his  own  diligence, 
was  destined  to  one  day  become  the  merchant  prin  ce  of 
Philadelphia. 

A  few  years  later,  school  was  abandoned  for  stead;^ 
employment  which  was  found  in  a  store  four  miles  from 
his  home,  where  he  boarded,  for  he  had  not  the  means 
to  do  otherwise,  thereby  walking  eight  miles  per  day, 
aside  from  his  duties  at  the  store,  receiving  $1.25  each 
Saturday  evening.  Think  of  it,  working  hard  all  the 
week,  walking  four  miles  night  and  morning — in  all 
foi*ty-eight  miles  perweek,  and  receiving  only  $1.25  salary 
for  the  entire  week's  work.  Afterward  he  was  em- 
ployed in  a  law  office,  and  still  later  we  find  him  in  a 
clothing  store  at  a  salary  of  $1.50  per  week.    Here  he 


38  HIDDEN    TREASURES. 

seemed  to  find  the  calling  which  suited  his  taste,  and  he 
cultivated  a  pleasing  disposition ;  people  liked  to  trade 
with  the  young  clerk.  Of  course  this  faculty,  coupled 
with  energy,  would  soon  bring  recognition,  and  it  was 
not  long  before  he  was  called  to  responsible  positions. 
Another  strong  feature  of  the  success  of  John  Wanna- 
maker  was,  he  lived  on  less  than  he  earned,  and  saved 
the  balance. 

In  1861  he  liad  saved  several  hundred  dollars,  and  as 
he  had  earned  a  reputation  for  honesty  and  ability,  he 
was  enabled  to  start  in  business  on  his  own  account. 
This  firm  of  Wannamaker  &  Brown  was  situated  at  the 
corner  of  Sixth  and  Market  streets.  Mr.  Wannamaker 
kept  the  books — the  firm  hired  no  superfluous  help—* 
everything  that  they  could  do  personally  they  hired  no 
one  to  do.  A  firm  which  possesses  ability,  and  follows 
such  business  rules,  will  succeed.  Notwithstanding  that 
the  times  were  unusually  ^^  shaky,"  they  prospered. 

As  the  business  increased  other  stores  were  opened, 
and  John  Wannamaker,  the  poor  clerk — after  a  period 
of  twenty  years  of  enterprise,  pushed  by  energy,  con- 
trolled a  force  of  6,000  employees.  Not  only  does  the 
firm  handle  clothing,  but  every  conceivable  ai*ticle  gen- 
erally found  in  retail  trade,  the  establishment  being  the 
largest  in  the  great  city  of  brotherly  love. 

How  pleasant  it  is  to  see  men  to  whom  God  has  boun- 
tifully supplied  money  using  that  means  for  the  good  of 
their  fellow-creatures.  Among  the  liberal,  whole-souled 
millionaires  of  our  country,  John  Wannamaker  is  to  be 
found.  Although  carrying  on  an  immense  business  he 
has  found  time  to  establish  Sunday-Schools,  solicit  money 
for  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association,  and  has  con- 
tributed to  these  personally,  over  $100,000. 


OUR  country's  wealth,  and  who  possess  it.      39 

John  Wannamaker  is  a  philanthropist.  One  of  his 
favorite  schemes  has  been  to  go  into  the  vilest  neighbor- 
hoods, establish  a  Sunday-School,  build  nice  houses,  and 
thus  bring  the  locality  up  to  the  plane  of  respectability. 
He  was  looked  to  for  aid  when  the  Centennial  was  pro- 
jected, and  it  is  needless  to  say  that  it  was  not  found 
wanting.  The  secret  of  his  great  success  is  his  indefati- 
gable industry,  and  a  thorough  mastery  of  his  business. 
He  is  one  of  the  most  enterprising  merchants  in  history. 


Alexander  T.  Stewart  - 


THE  dry-goods  prince  of  the  world.  A  marble  palace 
for  a  store,  which  is  entered  daily  by  an  average  of 
twenty-five  thousand  people  who  buy  $75,000  worth  of 
merchandise — a  business  with  daily  import  duties  to  the 
Government  of  $25,000  in  gold.  When  we  look  at  all 
this,  and  then  remember  that  he  was  proprietor,  not  only 
of  the  palace  store  of  America,  but  had  branches  in  Phil- 
adelphia, Boston,  Lyons,  Paris,  Belfast,  Glasgow,  Berlin, 
Bradford,  Manchester,  Nottingham,  and  other  cities 
throughout  the  v\^orld.  When  we  behold  this  great  suc- 
cess, and  then  think  how  he  landed  in  this  country  a  poor 
Irish  lad  of  sixteen,  friendless,  homeless,  and  almost 
penniless,  alone  in  a  strange  land,  we  involuntarily  ex- 
claim, ^^  How  was  such  a  change  in  his  position  brought 
about  ? "  Why  did  he  succeed,  while  others  all  about  him 
who  were  far  better  situated,  failed  ?  Let  us  follow  him : 
He  was  born  at  Belfast,  Ireland,  October  21st,  1802, 
and  in  1818  came  to  America.    He  was  a  mere  lad  of 


40  HIDDEN   THEASURES. 

sixteen.  The  first  work  that  he  obtained  was  as  assist- 
ant in  a  college  ;  here  he  worked  hard,  saved  his  money, 
and  at  last  he  was  able  to  open  a  small  store  in  the  city 
where  he  sold  dry-goods.  When  he  became  twenty-one 
he  was  called  to  his  native  country  to  claim  a  small 
legacy  left  him  by  a  relative  who  had  died.  He  had  made 
a  study  of  his  business,  hence  invested  the  entire  sum  in 
Irish  products,  and  returning  to  America  rented  another 
store  on  Broadway,  and  thus  began  that  great  importing 
business.  At  this  time  he  was  his  own  buyer,  salesman, 
book-keeper  and  errand  boy.  Ah  !  there  is  the  secret  of 
the  success  of  nine-tenths  of  our  great  men.  They  be- 
gan at  the  bottom — never  hiring  help  for  the  mere  ap- 
pearance or  convenience  of  their  assistance.  They  never 
hired  done  what  they  themselves  could  do.  And  then 
there  is  another  thing  to  remember — beginning  thus  at 
the  bottom  they,  of  necessity,  became  thoroughly  famil- 
iar with  the  details  of  their  business,  hence  were  never 
obliged  to  leave  anything  to  the  'confidential  clerk'  who 
has  ruined  so  many  business  men.  Stewart  soon  felt  the 
need  of  more  room,  and  was  compelled  to  seek  more 
commodious  quarters.  After  making  another  move  to  a 
larger  store-room  he  made  his  first  purchase  of  real  es- 
tate, which  was  his  "down-town"  store.  After  this  his 
"up-town"  store  was  built. 

He  was  a  splendid  salesman,  a  perfect  gentleman  to' 
ward  customers,  and  people  preferred  trading  with  him 
rather  than  any  clerk  in  his  employ.  His  tastes  were 
very  simple,  and  he  was  always  plainly  dressed.  It  has 
been  stated  that  Mr.  vStewart  never  posed  for  a  photo- 
graph, which  is  a  significant  fact  of  itself.  His  motto 
was,  "Never  spend  a  dollar  unless  there  is  a  prospect  of 
legitimate  gain."    He  arose  early  in  the  morning,  went 


OUR  country's  wealth,  and  who  possess  it.      41 

to  his  ^'  up-town  "  store,  and  thoroughly  inspected  every- 
thing; then  to  his  ''down-town "store  where  he  attended 
to  his  business  at  that  end  of  the  line. 

At  the  breaking  out  of  the  Civil  War  he  aided  the 
Union  cause  very  much.  Being  in  sympathy  with  the 
principles  of  the  Eepublican  party,  and  holding  a  power- 
ful influence  over  the  commercial  world,  the  President, 
Mr.  Grant,  nominated  him  Secretary  of  the  Treasury, 
and  he  was  at  once  confirmed  by  the  Senate ;  but  as  there 
is  a  law  prohibiting  any  merchant  in  the  importing  busi- 
ness from  holding  this  position,  he  was  objected  to  by 
opposing  politicians ;  and,  although  he  offered  to  donate 
the  entire  profits  of  his  business  to  the  poor  of  the  city 
of  New  York,  they  still  objected,  and  he  was  obliged  to 
resign.  By  this, the  country  was  undoubtedly  robbed  of 
the  services  of  a  man  capable  of  making  one  of  the  best 
officers  for  that  position  our  country  has  ever  known. 
However,  it  was  right  that  it  should  be  so  ;  it  would 
have  been  very  unwise  to  have  established  such  a 
precedent. 

In  some  respects,  Mr.  Stewart  was  a  very  liberal  man, 
although  it  has  been  stated  otherwise.  In  his  will  is  his 
desire  to  do  good„ especially  manifested.  Arrangements 
were  made  for  the  l)uilding  of  a  church  and  parsonage, 
and  a  school  for  the  benefit  of  poor  boys  who  desired  to 
fit  themselves  for  a  professional  life. 

Some  people  may  be  fortunate  in  one  instance  in  their 
life .  We  do  not  wholly  disregard  the  idea  of  circum- 
stances, but  we  do  claim  and  try  to  prove  that  it  is  not 
the  one  instance  in  the  life  after  alL  When  we  consider 
a  whole  life's  history,  we  are  convinced  every  time  that 
generally  where  one  is  seemingly  very  fortunate,  it  is 
the  result  of  careful  calculation  and  downright  hard 


42  HIDDEN   TREASURES. 

work.  Bad  luck  is  the  natural  result  of  carelessness  in 
business  matters.  Had  A.  T.  Stewart  waited  for  a  lucky 
chance  to  come  to  him,  he  might — probably  never  would 
have  realized  that>  splendid  success  that  did  attend  his 
efforts.  Here  he  came  to  this  country  at  the  age  of  six- 
teen .  He  did  not  wait  for  his  grandfather  to  die  and 
leave  him  that  legacy  but  went  right  at  some  work.  It 
may  be  possible  that  the  grandfather  gave  him  that 
money  because  he  felt  that  young  Stewart  would  make 
good  use  of  it.  Certain  it  is  he  did  not  wait  but  went 
right  to  work,  saved  his  money,  and  was  well  prepared 
to  use  the  legacy  skillfully  when  he  did  receive  it.  How- 
ever, if  Stewart  had  never  had  that  money  given  him, 
he  would  have  succeeded.  His  whole  life  was  a  series  of 
maturing  plans,  which  had  been  carefully  laid,  and  then 
pushed  to  completion.  A  man  must  have  ability  to  plan 
well,  and  the  courage  and  backbone  to  push  those  plans 
to  success.  A.  T.  Stewart  possessed  these  qualities  to  a 
marked  degree.  He  began  as  his  moderate  circumstan- 
ces would  warrant,  and  best  of  all  he  never  allowed  his 
energies  to  slacken.  He  never  became  a  lazy  business 
man.  He  never  allowed  himself  to  rest  content  with 
the  laurels  already  his.  He  was  a  man  of  enterprise  ; 
while  competitors  followed  the  footsteps  of  their  fathers, 
A.  T.  Stewart  was  progressing  —  he  was  original  in 
nearly  every  undertaking. 

On  the  10th  day  of  April,  1876,  this  great  magnate 
died.  His  business  was  carried  on, for  a  time,  by  others, 
but  the  mainspring  was  gone,  and  in  1882  the  great 
clock  stopped.  Here  is  an  instance  that  should  convince 
us  of  the  result  of  courage,  energy,  and  self-reliance. 
A.  T.  Stewart  began  without  a  dollar,  and  succeeded, 
while  they  who  ha.d  the  benefit  of  his  experience,  the 


OUR   COUNTRY^S    WEALTH,    AND   WHO   POSSESS   IT.         43 

use  of  his  vast  wealth,  and  a  marble  palace,  could  not 
succeed. 

The  history  of  the  stealing  of  Mr.  Stewart's  body  is 
well-known,  and  as  the  papers  have  succeeded  so  well  in 
keeping  the  subject  before  the  people,we  will  not  speak 
further  of  that  here,  our  object  being  rather  to  instruct 
than  to  narrate  sensational  episodes. 


Nicholas  Longworth. 


IN  the  year  1782  there  was  t^rn  a  child  of  parents  who 
had  once  been  somewhat  wealthy,  but  who  were 
then  living  in  poverty  at  Newark,  New  Jersey.  This 
child  was  Nicholas  Longworth,  the  father  of  grape  cul- 
ture in  the  United  States. 

He  attempted  to  learn  various  trades,  at  one  time 
being  bound  to  a  shoemaker,  but  finally  settled  upon  the 
law  and  began  its  study,  as  his  circumstances  would 
allow,  in  his  native  city.  Young  Longworth  saw  that 
he  would  have  far  more  chance  to  rise  in  the  new 
country  west  of  the  Alleghanies  than  in  the  over-crowded 
East.  Therefore,  when  he  was  of  age  he  emigrated  "  out 
west,"  stopping  at  the  outskirts  of  civilization,  locating 
in  a  small  place  of  1000  inhabitants  called  Cincinnati. 
Here  he  entered  the  law  office  of  Judge  Burnett,  and 
soon  was  capable  of  passing  the  necessary  examination, 
and  was  admitted  to  the  bar.  His  first  case  was  in 
defense  of  a  certain  man  who  had  been  arrested  for 
horse-stealing,  a  very  grave  offense  in  that  wilderness. 


44  HIDDEN    TREASURES. 

This  man  had  no  money  and  about  all  he  possessed  in  the 
world  that  he  could  call  his  own  was  two  copper  stills. 
As  much  as  young  Longworth  needed  money  he  was 
obliged  to  accept  these  as  his  fee  for  clearing  the  man. 
He  .tried  to  turn  the  stills  into  money  but  finally  traded 
them  for  thirty-three  acres  of  land,  which  was  a  barren 
waste.  He  had  kept  his  eyes  open  and  felt  sure  that  the 
possibilities  for  Cincinnati  were  very  great.  He  therefore 
bought  land  at  ten  dollars  per  lot,  as  fast  as  his  means 
would  allow,  and  all  through  the  early  portion  of  his  life 
bought  real  estate  until  he  became  recognized  as  the 
heaviest  real  estate  owner  in  Cincinnati. 

Tears  afterward  he  saw  the  wisdom  of  his  course, 
— living  to  see  his  ten  dollar  lots  rise  to  ten  thousand 
dollars  each,  and  the  land  which  he  received  as  his  first 
fee,  that  was  thought  to  be  all  but  worthless,  rise  to  the 
value  of  two  million  dollars.  After  following  the  law 
for  about  twenty  years  he  was  forced  to  give  up  his 
practice  in  order  to  take  care  of  his  extensive  land 
interest.  He  went  into  the  grape  growing  business,  and 
for  some  time  his  efforts  were  attended  with  only  dis- 
couragement, but  he  had  relied  on  the  clippings  from  for- 
eign vines.  He  firmly  believed  that  the  Ohio  valley  was 
naturally  adapted  to  the  growth  of  the  grape,  and  in 
this  enterprise  he  allowed  himself  to  harbor  no  thoughts 
other  than  of  success. 

This  is  a  characteristic  of  any  man  calculated  to 
succeed.  After  experimenting  with  many  different 
varieties,  he  at  last  hit  upon  the  Catawba.  To  encour- 
age the  industry  he  laid  out  a  very  large  vineyard,  gave 
away  great  numbers  of  cuttings,  offered  a  prize  for 
any  improvement  in  the  Catawba  grape,  and  proclaimed 
that  he  would  buy  all  the  wine  that  could  be  brought  to 


OUR  country's  wealth,  and  who  possess  it.      45 

him  from  the  valley,  whether  in  large  or  small  quanti- 
ties. The  result  was  that  grape  growing  figured  as  no 
small  factor  in  the  development  of  Ohio.  He  had  a  wine 
cellar  capable  of  holding  300,000  bottles,  and  was  worth 
at  his  death  $15,000,000. 

Nicholas  Longworth  was  exceedingly  liberal  in  his 
own  way — selling  his  lots  on  easy  installments,  thereby 
aiding  many  to  a  home.  His  motto  was,  "  Help  those 
who  help  themselves,''  however, he  gave  much  to  those 
whom  no  one  else  would  aid.  He  was  personally  of  in- 
ferior appearance ;  not  only  this,  but  nothing  pleased 
him  more  than  a  shabby  dress,  being  often  mistaken  for 
a  beggar.  As  a  benefactor  and  horticulturist  he  made 
his  influence  to  be  felt  in  succeeding  generations. 


Robert  Bonner. 


OF  all  the  newspaper  editors  we  have  ever  read,  possibly 
Robert;  Bonner  is  the  most  enterprising.  He  was 
born  in  Ireland  in  the  year  1824,  and  at  the  age  of  six- 
teen came  to  Hartford,  Connecticut.  He  had  an  uncle 
here  who  was  a  farmer,  but  Robert  aspired  to  own  a  pa- 
per, and  drifted  into  the  office  of  the  Hartford  Courant, 
Robert  Bonner  det;ermined  to  own  a  paper  ;  he,  there- 
fore, set  about  it, working  faithfully  every  day,  and  over- 
time, saving  his  money.  He  mastered  his  business,  be- 
coming an  expert  compositor.  In  1844  he  went  to  New 
York  and  obtained  employment  on  the  Mirror.  He  was 
intrusted  with  the  oversight  of  the  advertising  depart- 
ment, and  it  was  soon  seen  that  he  had  a  decidedly  fine 


46  HIDDEN   TREASURES. 

taste  in  the  arrangement  of  this  line,  a  feature  which  has 
undoubtedly  had  much  to  do  with  his  wonderful  success 
later.    He  was  also  at  this  time  a  correspondent  of  the 
Hartford  Courant,  also  newspapers  in  Boston,  Albany  and 
Worcester.  About  1851  he  bought  out  the  Merchants  Led- 
ger, a  paper  devoted  to  the  commercial  interests  of  the 
country.     This  he  transformed  into  a  family  story  paper, 
and  christened  it  the  New  York  Ledger,    Fanny  Fern 
was  just  appearing  in  the  columns  of  literature.    Bon- 
ner offered  her  $1,000  to  write  a  story  for  the  Ledger,  en- 
closing his  check  for  the  amount.    As  this  was  a  very 
high  price  in  those  days,  of  course  she  accepted.     Then 
the  papers  throughout  the  country  were  full  of  adver- 
tisements -^'Read  the    Thousand  Dollar  Story  in    the 
Ledger. ^^    "Read  The  New  York  Ledger  ^^-  Some  people 
said,  "Well,  first-class  journals  don't  use  such  flashy  ways 
of  inducing  people  to  subscribe ;  they  rely  on  the  merits 
of  their  paper."    Bonner  heard  this  and  began  to  study 
how  to  overcome  this  tide  of  sentiment.    There  was 
Harpers'  Weekly  —  no    one'    questioned    its    respecta- 
bility.   The  Harpers  never  indulged  in  any  flashy  adver- 
tising, but  soon  the  people  were  surprised  to  see  in  all 
the  leading  papers,   ^Buy  Harpers  Weekly,^  as  no  one 
imagined  that  Bonner  had  paid  for  the  advertising;  they 
attributed  the  advertisements  to  the  necessity  Harpers 
felt  through  the  rivalry  of  the  Ledger.    This  sort  of  en- 
terprise cost,  but  it  convinced  people  that  respectable 
journals  advertised  as  did  the  Ledger,    People  said  it  was 
*  cheap,  trashy  literature,  etc' 

Mr.  Bonner  at  once  hunted  up  Edward  Everett  who 
was  recognized  as  the  representative  of  New  England 
refinement.  This  was  a  most  opportune  time  for  Mr. 
Bonner,  as  Mr.  Everett  was  trying  to  raise  a  large  sum 


OUR  country's  wealth,  and  who  possess  it.      4:7 

with  which  to  aid  in  beautifying  the  home  and  tomb  of 
Washington.  Mr.  Bonner  engaged  Mr.  Everett  to  write 
a  series  of  articles  on  Mount  Vernon,  giving  in  return 
his  check  for  $10,000  to  be  applied  toward  the  Everett 
Fund  for  the  aid  of  the  Association.  Probably  Mr.  Ev- 
erett w^ould  have  refused  to  write  at  any  other  time,  but 
Bonner  took  advantage  of  circumstances — always. 

He  next  secured  George  Bancroft,  the  eminent  histo- 
rian. Then  followed  Horace  Greeiy,  James  Gordon  Ben- 
nett, and  Henry  J.  Raymond.  When  such  lights  of 
journalism  would  write  for  the  Ledger,  what  could  lesser 
country  editors  say  ?  Next  came  a  story  by  Henry  Ward 
Beecher,  who  was  followed  by  Dr.  John  Hall  the  great 
Presbyterian  Divine,  Bishop  Clark,  Dr.  English,  Longfel- 
low, Tennyson,  and  others,  including  a  series  of  articles 
from  the  presidents  of  the  leading  colleges  throughout 
the  country. 

Mr.  Bonner  is  a  Presbyterian,  being  a  member  of  the 
church  presided  over  by  Dr.  John  Hall,  on  Fifth  Avenue. 
He  has  given  many  thousands  of  dollars  to  various  insti- 
tutions and  charities.  He  owns  the  finest  stable  of 
horses  in  the  Union,  among  which  are  such  as  Maud  S. — 
his  first  great  trotter  was  Dexter.  He  never  allows  one  of 
his  horses  to  trot  for  money. 

Mr.  Bonner  is  getting  along  in  years  but  still  attends 
to  business.  His  paper  has  at  times  attained  a  circula- 
tion of  400;000  copies,  each  issue. 


4B  HIDDEN   TREASURES. 


William  G.  Fargo. 


WHO,  indeed,  has  not  heard  of  the  American  Express 
Company  ?     Yet,  how  few  there  are  who  know  to 
whom  we  are  indebted  for  its  existence. 

William  G.  Fargo  was  born  May  20,  1818,  at  Pompey^ 
New  York,  and  at  the  age  of  twelve  he  was  mail-carrier 
over  a  route  that  covered  forty  miles.  The  inference 
must  be  at  once  formed  that  William  G.  Fargo  was  no 
ordinary  child.  He  must  have  been  industrious  and 
trustworthy,  for  the  mail  must  be  delivered  on  time. 
No  holiday  could  be  observed,  nor  could  any  circus  be 
allowed  to  come  between  him  and  his  work.  Seeking  a 
more  remunerative  calling  he  went  to  Waterville,  where 
he  clerked  in  a  small  store  and  tavern,  improving  his 
spare  moments  in  learning  to  keep  accounts.  When 
seventeen  he  went  to  Syracuse  and  entered  a  grocery 
house.  He  continued  in  the  grocery  line  in  one 
capacity  or  another  for  five  years,  when  he  accepted  the 
freight  agency  of  the  Auburn  and  Syracuse  Kaih'oad, 
in  which  capacity  he  had  found  his  calling.  Two  years 
later  he  became  associated  with  Pomeroy  &  Co.,  and  was 
given  the  express  agency  for  that  company  at  Buffalo, 
and  in  1844  he  became  a  member  of  the  firm  of  Wells  & 
Co.,  who  established  an  express  line  from  Buffalo,  west 
to  Detroit,  via  Cleveland.  This  firm,  in  time,  became 
Livingston  &  Fargo,  and  finally  the  several  express 
companies:  Wells  &  Co.,  Butterfield,  Wasson  &  Co.  and 
Livingston  &  Co.,  became  merged  into  the  since  famous 
3 


OUR   cdUNTRY's    WEALTH,    AND   WHO   POSSESS   IT.         49 

American  Express  Co.  In  1868  Mr.  Fargo  was  elected 
President  of  this  Company,  and  remained  at  its  head 
until  his  death.  He  was  also  connected  with  various 
other  enterprises,  being  Vice-President  of  the  New  York 
Central  &  Hudson  River  railroad,  and  was  also  largely 
interested  in  Northern  Pacific  and  other  railroad  stock. 
In  1861  he  was  elected  Mayor  of  Buffalo  on  the  Demo- 
cratic ticket,  but  so  impartial  was  he  in  the  administra- 
tion of  the  city  affairs,  and  so  patent  was  his  business 
ability,  that  he  was  re-elected,  being  supported  by  all 
parties. 

Such  is  the  reward  for  earnestness.  And  will  any 
one  say  that  William  G.  Fargo  was  not  deserving  of  this 
splendid  success  ?  If  we  will  have  success  we  must  earn 
it.  Let  no  man  envy  another  in  no  matter  what  station 
of  life  he  may  be  situated.  Rest  assured  that  we  will 
fill  the  place  that  we  are  capable  of  filling;  no  more,  no 
less. 


James  C.  Flood. 


JAMES  C.  FLOOD  was  born  in  New  York  city.  He  re- 
received  only  a  plain  common  school  education,  but 
has  succeeded,  not  from  a  lack  of  education  but  in  spite 
of  that  lack.  He  passed  through  the  usual  routine  of  boys 
placed  in  moderate  circumstances,  until  the  year  1849, 
being  past  his  majority,  he  sailed  in  the  good  ship 
" Elizabeth,"  around  the  "Horn,"  arriving  in  a  strange 
land  without  money  or  friends,  but  he  had  brains,  and 


50  HIDDEN  TREASURES. 

they  were  reinforced  by  a  surprising  allowance  of  will- 
power. 

He  drifted  from  one  thing  to  another,  kept  a  restau- 
rant, and  finally  in  1854  loomed  up  as  senior  partner  in 
the  firm  of  Flood  &  O'Brien,  who  were  soon  deep  in  ''  Old 
Kentuck,"  seeking  the  treasures  which  they  found  in 
great  quantities,  and  finally  when  they  took  hold  of  the 
'^  Hale  &  Norcross  "  mine,it  made  them  the  first  bonanza 
kings  America  ever  knew. 

He  next  projects  the  l^evada  Bank  and  makes  the 
call  for  over  five  millions  of  dollars  which  leads  to  the 
suspension  of  the  Bank  of  California,  as  the  indiscrete 
placing  of  its  resources  leaves  that  bank  in  a  weak  posi- 
tion to  withstand  so  sudden  a  drain,  and  was  therefore 
indirectly  the  cause,  as  most  people  think,  of  its  beloved 
President's  death.  Mr.  Flood  desired  to  place  this 
Nevada  Bank  upon  so  firm  a  foundation  that  neither  the 
indiscretion  of  speculators  or  the  ebb  and  flow  of 
mercantile  life  could  overthrow  it.  How  well  this  has 
been  accomplished  can  be  seen  from  the  fact,  that  it  has 
a  capital  of  nearly  fifteen  million  dollars,  and  numbers 
among  its  directors,  such  bonanza  kings  as  James  C. 
Flood,  John  W.  MacKay  and  James  G.  Fair,  whose 
private  fortunes  combined  represent  over  $100,000,000,  to 
say  nothing  of  other  wealthy  directors.  This  bank  asserts 
that  it  has  special  facilities  for  handling  bullion,  and  we 
should  think  quite  likely  it  has.  Something  of  the  con- 
dition of  the  private  finances  of  Mr.^Flood  can  be  as- 
certained. If  one  takes  the  trouble  to  look  over  the 
assessment  roll  he  will  find  the  following  :  ''  James  C. 
Flood,  6,000  shares,  Nevada  Bank  stock,  $1,200,000 ;  12,- 
000  shares,  Pacific  Mill  &  Mining  Co.,  $4,000,000 ;  250 
shares,  Pacific  Wood,   Lumber  &  Flume  Co.,   $30,000 ; 


OUR  country's  wealth  and  who  possess  it.       51 

1,000  shares,  San  Francisco  Gaslight  stock,  $90,000  ;  987 
shares  of  Golden  City  Chemical  Works,  $20,000 ;  3,000 
shares  of  Virginia  &  Gold-Hill  Water  Co.,  $300,000  ;  47^ 
shares  of  Giant  Powder  Co.,  $60,000;  649^  shares 
Atlantic  Giant  Powder  Co.,  $30,000 ;  35,000  shares  Ophir 
Mine  stock,  $1,000,000,"  and  he  is  assessed  for  $250,000 
in  money.  Then  comes  J.  C.  Flood  &  Co.  "  Controlling 
jnterest  in  stock  of  Yellow  Jacket,  Union  Consolidated, 
Scorpion,  Savage,  Ophir,  Occidental,  Hale  &  Norcross, 
Gould  &  Curry,  Consolidated  Virginia,  Best  &  Belcher 
and  other  mining  compaies,  $10,000,000 ;  money  $500,- 
000."  In  all  it  is  quite  a  fortune  for  a  poor  boy  to  find, 
but  it  must  be  rememberedthat  Mr.  Flood  had  much  with 
which  to  contend,  and  that  nine  men  out  of  ten  might 
have  passed  over  the  same  ground  and  found  nothing. 
Industry  is  what  wins,  and  J.  C.  Flood  is  no  exception 
to  the  rule.  In  a  recent  law  suit  Mr.  Flood  displayed  a 
most  peculiar  memory,  or  rather  a  most  remarkable 
lack  of  memory.  We  take  the  following  facts  from  an 
editorial  on  the  subject : 

^'A  certain  man  sued  Mr.  Flood  to  recover  about 
$26,000,000,  the  alleged  value  of  certain  'tailings'  on 
some  of  the  mines.  Mr.  Flood  did  not  know  whal 
company  milled  the  ore  of  the  Consolidated  Virginia 
did  not  remember  who  was  President  of  the  company  a1 
the  time  ;  he  might  have  been,  could  not  say  for  certain, 
however ;  did  not  know  where  the  crude  bullion  from 
his  own  mines  was  sent  to  be  melted  into  bars ;  could 
not  tell  how  much  was  worked,  nor  anything  about  it. 
He  did  not  remember  who  was  treasurer  of  the  mill 
company  ;  he  might  have  been,  might  now  be,  but  could 
hot  tell  for  certain." 

Mr.  Flood  owns  one  of  the   finest  mansions,   for  a 


52  HIDDEN   TREASURES. 

private  residence,   in  the  whole  world.      It  cost  one 
million,  and  is  a  magnificent  building  in  any  sense. 

Few  men  surpass  him  in  either  getting  or  keeping 
money. 


John  W.  Mack  ay. 


TOHN  W.  MACKAY  is  not  only  the  youngest  and  the 
\)  richest  of  that  bonanza  trio  -Flood,  Fair  and  MacKay 
but  immense  wealth  has  not  spoiled  him.  He  is  of  Irish 
birth,  but  came  to  this  country  before  he  was  of  age. 
When  the  gold  fever  broke  out  he  was  one  of  the  first  to 
seek  his  fortune  in  that  auriferous  country  bordering  on 
the  Pacific,  in  California.  Contrary  to  the  general  sup- 
position that  his  great  wealth  came  through  ^good  luck/ 
let  me  say?  it  was  only  by  constant  toil  and  slowly  ac- 
quired experience  that  he  learned  how  to  tell  a  non-pay- 
ing lead  from  a  bonanza.  Several  times  he  seemed  about 
to  strike  the  long-looked  for  success  only  to  find  his 
brightest  hopes  dashed  to  the  earth.  But  these  failures 
tempered  him  for  the  greater  hardships  that  followed. 

The  famous  '^Comstock  Lode"  is  situated  among  a 
vast  accumulation  of  rocks  and  deep  canyons — the  re- 
sult of  terrible  volcanic  eruptions  at  some  remote  period. 
This  mining  district  was  discovered  by  two  Germans  in 
about  1852-3.  Contrary  to  the  opinion  expressed  by  other 
prospectors,  these  Germans  saw  silver  in  the  rejected  ore. 
Both  brothers  suddenly  dying,  the  claim  fell  to  a  store- 


OUR  country's  wealth,  and  who  possess  it.      53 

keeper  named  Comstock  who  sold  out  for  a  few  thousand. 
Mr.  MacKay's  investment  in  the  one  mine,  the  "Consoli- 
dated Virginia  and  California,"  has  paid  him  unheard  of 
dividends.  This  mine  produced  in  a  period  covering  six 
years,  from  1873,  gold  and  silver  to  the  amount  of  ovei 
sixty-three  millions  of  dollars.  The  combined  profits  of 
the  two  mines  were  over  seventy-three  and  one-half  mil- 
lions of  dollars.  Mr.  MacKay  drifted  to  this  lode,  mak- 
ing his  first  'hit'  in  1863,  and  in  this  section  the  bulk  of 
his  vast  fortune  was  accumulated. 

On  the  25th  of  November,  1867,  he  concluded  that  he 
was  able  to  support  a  wife,  and  accordingly  married  the 
widow  of  an  old  friend  (Dr.  Thompson)  who  had  shared 
his  varying  fortune  of  former  years  when  he  little 
dreamed  of  the  vast  wealth  that  awaited  him.  This  lady 
is  one  of  the  best  hands  to  help  a  man  spend  a  fabulous 
income, of  which  we  are  aware.  She  lives  in  Paris,  where 
she  gives  the  most  expensive  of  entertainments.  When 
General  Grant  was  in  France  he  was  her  guest.  She 
supports  a  private  railway  carriage  to  use  at  her  pleas- 
ure, and  it  would  almost  exceed  belief  to  describe  the 
cost  of  her  table  service ;  in  fact,  she  lives  in  oriental 
splendor.  On  the  other  hand  Mr.  MacKay  is  decidedly 
pronounced,  personally,  in  favor  of  little  show.  He  is 
far  more  at  home  in  Virginia  City,  where  he  may  often 
be  seen  in  a  genuine  mining  costume,  than  at  his  pala- 
tial home  in  Paris. 

The  ground  had  been  known  for  years  wherein  his 
greath  wealth  was  found,  but  it  was  pronounced  worth- 
less. Everything  seemingly  had  to  be  contested ;  confi- 
dence was  lacking,  and  what  confidence  remained  was 
daily  agitated  by  parties  who  were  jealous  rivals.  The 
stock  became  almost  worthless,  and  great  discontent  was 


64  HIDDEN    TREASURES. 

manifest  when,  to  make  matters  worse,  a  fire  broke  out 
which  burned  the  company's  property  and  valuable  ma- 
chinery. Twelve  hundred  feet  of  ground  had  to  be 
slowly  gone  over  in  search  for  the  right  vein,  at  a  cost 
of  $500,000.  Amid  great  discouragement  John  W.  Mac- 
Kay  led  this  apparently  forlorn  hope  to  at  last  be 
crowned  with  the  success  he  so  richly  deserved.  He 
now  is  estimated  to  be  worth  in  the  vicinity  of  $55,000,- 
000,  and  although  it  may  seem  a  somewhat  extravagant 
reward,  it  cannot  be  denied  that  this  vast  sum  could  have 
been  placed  in  far  worse  hands. 

Both  Mr.  and  Mrs.  MacKay  are  very  liberal  toward 
charitable  purposes.  They  were  especially  complimented 
by  Pope  Leo  XIII  for  their  charitable  deeds.  As  Mr.  Mac- 
Kay  is  but  about  fifty  years  of  age,  it  is  hard  to  conjec- 
ture his  possible  future.  While  many  features  in  his 
career  seem  to  justify  the  belief  in  '4uck,"  still,  to  the 
close  observer,  it  is  manifest  that  had  he  not  possessed 
great  endurance,  and  known  no  such  thing  as  fail,  the 
world  would  never  have  known  of  John  W.  MacKay. 
Surely, great  effort  is  the  price  of  great  success, always. 


James  C  Fair, 


THE  name  of  James  C.  Fair  will  be  recognized  at 
once  as  one  of  the  bonanza  kings,  and  like  the 
others  he  enjoyed  only  a  fair  education,  starting  for 
California  at  about  the  same  time  as  the  rest ;  he  taking 


OUR  country's  wealth,  and  who  possess  it.      55 

the  overland  route  while  they  went  by  water.  His  only 
capital  consisting  of  a  miner's  outfit,  and  with  those 
simple  implements  he  began  his  hard  fought  battle  for 
wealth.  He  made  mining  a  scientihc  study  and  after 
about  six  years  of  variable  success,  he  became  known  as 
an  expert.  Soon  after  this  he  accepted  the  superintend- 
ency  of  the  Ophir  mine,  and  later,  the  Hale  &  Norcross ; 
since  which  time  he  has  gone  on, until  now, he  can  count 
his  worldly  possessions  by  the  million.  He  is  a  most 
thorough  miner,  and  his  long  continued  life  at  the  bot- 
tom of  the  mines  has  had  a  telling  effect  on  his  health. 
That  he  has  successfully  managed  such  wild  and  wicked 
men,  as  many  miners  are,  without  becoming  the  victim 
of  some  "  accident,"  indicates  something  of  his  ability. 
Finally  his  impaired  health  necessitated  his  withdrawal 
from  active  worK:,  and  he  made  an  extended  voyage,  re- 
turiiiug  in  a  much  improved  condition. 

In  1881  he  was  elected  to  the  United  States  Senate, 
where  he  acquitted  himself  with  credit.  He  charged 
nothing  for  his  services,  an  event  without  parallel  in 
our  history,  however,  he  received  all  for  which  he  went 
to  Washington — honor.  He  is  assessed  for  over  forty 
millions,  and  can  well  afford  to  donate  his  salary  to  the 
Government. 

Like  the  other  bonanza  kings  he  seems  to  have  been 
specially  favored  by  fortune,  but  the  old  saying,  "  Birds 
of  a  feather  will  flock  together,"  is  true  in  this  case,  for 
these  men  are  all  practical  miners  and  changed  partners 
often  until  the  firm  of  Flood,  Fair  &  MacKay  was  formed, 
since  which  time  they  all  seem  perfectly  satisfied  each 
with  the  other.,  All  had  been  sorely  tried  during  their 
earlier  life  and  w^ere  not  found  wanting  either  in  ability 


56  HIDDEN   TREASURES. 

or  stick-to-it-iveness  astheypassedthrough  the  crucible 
of  Dame  Fortune. 

As  we  have  just  been  reading  the  lives  of  the  three 
bonanza  kings,  J.  C.  Flood,  J.  C.  Fair  and  J.  W.  MacKay, 
possibly  a  description  of  one  of  their  enterprises  in  the 
shape  of  a  flume  v^ill  be  interesting  as  described  by  a 
New  York  Tribune  correspondent : 

A  fifteen-mile  ride  in  a  flume  down  the  Sierra  Nevada 
Mountains  in  thirty  minutes  was  not  one  of  the  things 
contemplated  in  my  visit  to  Virginia  City,  and  it  is  en- 
tirely within  reason  to  say  that  even  if  I  should  make 
this  my  permanent  place  of  residence — which  fortune  for- 
bid— I  shall  never  make  the  trip  again.  The  flume  cost, 
with  its  appurtenances,  between  $200,000  and  $300,000— 
if  it  had  cost  a  million  it  would  be  the  same  in  my  esti- 
mation. It  was  built  by  a  company  interested  in  the 
mines  here,  principally  the  owners  of  the  Consolidated 
Virginia,  California,  Hale  &  ISTorcross,  Gould  &  Curry, 
Best  &  Belcher  and  Utah  mines.  The  largest  stock- 
holders in  these  mines  are  J.  C.  Flood,  James  C.  Fair, 
John  W.  MacKay  and  W.  S.  O'Brien,  who  compose  with- 
out doubt  the  wealthiest  firm  in  the  United  States. 
Taking  the  stock  of  their  companies  at  the  price  quoted 
in  the  board,  the  amount  they  own  is  more  than  $100,- 
000,000,  and  each  has  a  large  private  fortune  in  addition. 
The  mines  named  use  1,000,000  feet  of  lumber  per  month 
under  ground,  and  burn  40,000  cords  of  wood  per  year. 
Wood  is  ^here  worth  from  $10  to  $12  per  cord,  and  at 
market  prices  Messrs.  Flood  &  Co.  would  have  to  pay 
nearly  $500,000  a  year  for  wood  alone.  Going  into  the 
mine  the  other  day,  and  seeing  the  immense  amount  of 
timber  used,  and  knowing  the  incalculable  amount  of 
wood  burned  in  the  several  mines  and  mills,  I  asked  Mr. 


OUR  country's  wealth,  and  who  possess  it.      57 

MacKay,  who  accompanied  me,  where  all  the  wood  and 
timber  came  from.  ''  It  comes/'  said  he, "  from  our  lands 
in  the  Sierras,  forty  or  fifty  miles  from  here.  We  own 
over  twelve  thousand  acres  in  the  vicinity  of  Washoe 
Lake,  all  of  which  is  heavily  timbered."  ^'  How  do  you 
get  it  here?''  I  asked.  ^'It  comes,"  said  he,  "in  our 
flume  down  the  mountains,  fifteen  miles,  and  from  our 
dumping  grounds  is  brought  by  the  Virginia  &  Truckee 
Railroad  to  this  city,  about  sixteen  miles.  You  ought 
to  see  the  flume  before  you  go  back  ;  it  is  really  a 
wonderful  thing.  "  The  flume  is  a  wonderful  piece 
of  engineering  work.  It  is  built  wholly  on  trestle- 
work  and  stringers;  there  is  not  a  cut  in  the 
whole  distance,  and  the  grade  is  so  heavy  that  there  is 
little  danger  of  a  jam.  The  trestle-work  is  very  sub- 
stantial, and  undoubtedly  strong  enough  to  support  a 
narrow-gauge  railway.  It  runs  over  foot-hills,  through 
valleys,  around  mountains,  and  across  canyons.  In  one 
place  it  is  seventy  feet  high.  The  highest  point  of  the 
flume  from  the  plain  is  3,700  feet,  and  on  an  air-line, 
from  beginning  to  end  the  distance  is  eight  miles,  the 
€ourse  thus  taking  up  seven  miles  in  twists  and  turns. 
The  trestle-work  is  thoroughly  braced  longitudinally 
and  across,  so  that  no  break  can  extend  further  than  a 
single  box,  which  is  16  feet.  All  the  main  supports, 
which  are  five  feet  apart,  are  firmly  set  in  mudsills,  and 
the  boxes  or  troughs  rest  in  brackets  four  feet  apart. 
These  again  rest  upon  substantial  stringers.  The  grade 
of  the  flume  is  from  1,600  to  2,000  feet  from  top  to  bot- 
tom— a  distance,  as  previously  stated,  of  fifteen  miles. 
The  sharpest  fall  is  three  feet  in  six.  There  are  two 
reservoirs  from  which  the  flume  is  fed.  One  is  1,100  feet 
long  and  the  other  is  600  feet.    A  ditch,  nearly  two  miles 


58  HIDDEN    TREASURES. 

long,  takes  the  water  to  the  first  reservoir,  whence  it  is 
conveyed  3J  miles  to  the  flume  through  a  feeder  capable 
of  carrying  450  inches  of  water.  The  whole  flume  was 
built  in  ten  weeks.  In  that  time  all  the  trestle-work, 
stringers  and  boxes  were  put  in  place.  About  200  men 
were  employed  on  it  at  one  time,  being  divided  into 
four  gangs.  It  required  2,000,000  feet  of  lumber,  but  the 
item  which  astonished  me  most  was  that  there  were  28 
tons,  or  56,000  pounds  of  nails  used  in  the  construction 
of  this  flume. 

Mr.  Flood  and  Mr.  Fair  had  arranged  for  a  ride  in 
the  flume,  and  I  was  challenged  to  go  with  them.  In- 
deed the  proposition  was  iDut  in  this  way — they  dared  me 
to  go.  I  thought  that  if  men  worth  twenty-five  or  thirty 
million  dollars  apiece  could  afford  to  risk  their  lives,  I 
could  afford  to  risk  mine,  which  isn't  worth  half  as 
much.  So  I  accepted  the  challenge,  and  two  ^  boats ' 
were  ordered.  These  were  nothing  more  than  pig 
troughs,  with  one  end  knocked  out.  The  'boat'  is 
built  like  the  flume,  Y  shaped,  and  fits  into  the  flume. 
The  grade  of  the  flume  at  the  mill  is  very  heavy,  and 
the  water  rushes  through  it  at  railroad  speed.  The 
terrors  of  that  ride  can  never  be  blotted  from  the  memory 
of  one  of  the  party.  I  cannot  give  the  reader  a  better 
idea  of  a  flume  ride  than  to  compare  it  to  sliding  down 
an  old-fashioned  eve-trough  at  an  angle  of  45  degrees, 
hanging  in  mid-air  without  suppoi*t  of  roof  or  house,  and 
extending  a  distance  of  fifteen  miles.  At  the  start  we 
went  at  the  rate  of  twenty  miles  an  hour,  which  is  a 
little  less  than  the  average  speed  of  a  railroad  train. 
The  red-faced  carpenter  sat  in  front  of  our  boat  on  the 
bottom  as  best  he  could.  Mr.  Fair  sat  on  a  seat  behind 
him,  and  I  sat  behind  Mr.  Fair  in  the  stern  and  was  of  great 


OUR  country's  wealth,  and  who  possess  it.      59 

service  to  him  in  keeping  the  water  which  broke  over  the 
end-board,  from  his  back.  There  was  also  a  great  deal 
of  water  shipped  in  the  bows  of  the  hog-  trough,  and  I 
know  Mr.  Fair's  broad  shoulders  kept  me  from  more 
than  one  ducking  in  that  memorable  trip.  At  the  heavi- 
est grades  the  water  came  in  so  furiously  in  front  that  it 
was  impossible  to  see  where  we  were  going,  or  what 
was  ahead  of  us  ;  but  when  the  grade  was  light,  and  we 
were  going  at  a  three  or  four  minute  pace,  the  view  was 
very  delightful,  although  it  was  terrible.  When  the 
water  would  enable  me  to  look  ahead,  I  could  see  the 
trestle  here  and  there  for  miles;  so  small  and  so  narrow 
and  apparently  so  fragile  that  I  could  only  compare  it 
to  a  chalk-mark  upon  which,  high  in  the  air,  I  was  run- 
ning at  a  rate  unknown  to  railroads.  One  circumstance 
during  the  trip  did  more  to  show  me  the  terrible  rapidity 
with  which  we  dashed  through  the  flume  than  anything 
else.  We  had  been  rushing  down  at  a  pretty  lively  rate 
of  speed  when  the  boat  suddenly  struck  something  in  the 
bow,a  nail,  a  lodged  stick  of  wood  or  some  secure  substance 
which  ought  not  to  have  been  there.  What  was  the  effect  ? 
The  red-faced  carpenter  was  sent  whirling  into  the  flume 
ten  feet  ahead.  Fair  was  precipitated  on  his  face,  and 
I  found  a  soft  lodgment  on  Fair's  back.  It  seems  to  me 
that  in  a  second's  time — Fair  himself  a  powerful  man — 
had  the  carpenter  by  the  scruff  of  the  neck,  and  had 
pulled  him  into  the  boat.  I  did  not  know  at  this  time 
that  Fair  had  his  fingers  crushed  between  the  flume  and 
the  boat.  But  we  sped  along ;  minutes  seemed  hours. 
It  seemed  an  hour  before  we  arrived  at  the  worst  place  in 
the  flume,  and  yet  Hereford  tells  me  that  it  was  less  than 
ten  minutes.  The  flume  at  the  point  alluded  to  must 
have  been  very  nearly  forty-five  degrees  inclination.  In 


60  HIDDEN    TREASURES. 

looking  out,  before  we  reached  it,  I  thought  the  only  way 
to  get  to  the  bottom  was  to  fall.  How  our  boat  kept  in 
the  track  is  more  than  I  know. 

The  wind,  the  steamboat,  the  railroad,  never  went  so 
fast.  In  this  particularly  bad  place  I  allude  to,  my  de- 
sire was  to  form  some  judgment  as  to  the  speed  we  were 
making.  If  the  truth  must  be  spoken,  I  was  really  scared 
almost  out  of  my  reason,  but  if  I  were  on  my  way  to  eter- 
nity I  wanted  to  know  exactly  how  fast  I  went,  so  I  hud- 
dled close  to  Fair,  and  turned  my  'eyes  toward  the 
hills.  Every  object  I  placed  my  eyes  upon  was  gone 
before  I  could  plainly  see  what  it  was.  Mountains 
passed  like  visions  and  shadows.  It  was  with  difficulty 
that  I  could  get  my  breath.  I  felt  that  I  did  not  weigh 
a  hundred  pounds,  although  I  knew  in  the  sharpness  of 
intellect  that  I  tipped  the  scales  at  two  hundred.  Mr. 
Flood  and  Mr.  Hereford,  although  they  started  several 
minutes  later  than  we,  were  close  upon  us.  They  were 
not  so  heavily  loaded,  and  they  had  the  full  sweep  of  the 
water,  while  we  had  it  rather  at  second-hand.  Their 
boat  finally  struck  ours  with  a  terrible  crash.  Mr.  Flood 
vv^as  thrown  upon  his  face,  and  the  waters  flowed  over 
him.  What  became  of  Hereford  I  do  not  know,  except 
that  when  we  reached  the  terminus  of  the  flume  he  was 
as  wet  as  any  of  us.  This  only  remains  to  be  said  : 
We  made  the  entire  distance  in  less  time  than  a  railway 
train  would  ordinarily  make,  and  a  portion  of  the  dis- 
tance we  went  faster  than  a  railway  train  ever  went. 
Fair  said  we  went  at  least  a  mile  a  minute.  Flood  said 
that  we  went  at  the  rate  of  a  hundred  miles  an  hour, 
and  my  deliberate  belief  is  that  we  went  at  a  rate  that 
annihilated  time  and  space.  We  were  a  wet  lot  when 
We  reached  the  terminus  of  the  flume. 


i  OUR  country's  wealth,  and  who  possess  it.      61 

Flood  said  that  he  would  not  make  the  trip  again  for 
the  whole  Consolidated  Virginia  mine.  Fair  said  that 
he  should  never  again  place  himself  upon  an  equality 
with  timber  and  wood,  and  Hereford  said  he  was  sorry 
that  he  ever  built  the  flume.  As  for  myself,  I  told  the 
millionaires  that  I  had  accepted  my  last  challenge.  When 
we  left  our  boats  we  were  more  dead  than  alive.  The 
next  day  neither  Flood  nor  Fair  were  able  to  leave  their 
beds.  For  myself,  I  have  only  the  strength  to  say  that 
I  have  had  enough  of  flumes. 


Horace  Greeley. 


IN  the  history  of  journalism, Horace  Greeley  must,  for 
all  time,  hold  a  position  in  the  front  rank.  As  it  is 
well-known  he  is  a  self-made  man,  being  born  of  poor 
parents  at  Amherst,  Ne  w  Hampshire,  on  the  3rd  day  of 
February,  1811.  His  father  was  a  farmer.  The  Greeley 
ancestors  enjoyed  a  reputation  for  ^tenacity,'  which  was 
clearly  shown  in  the  pale-faced,  flaxen-haired  but  pre- 
cocious lad  of  fifteen,  who  presented  himself  and  was 
employed  at  the  office  of  the  Northern  Spectator,  at  Poult- 
ney,  Vermont,  in  1826  ;  having  walked  from  West  Haven, 
his  home,  eleven  miles  distant.  He  was  to  remain  an 
apprentice  until  twenty,  and  received  in  money  the 
princely  sum  of  forty  dollars  a  year  'with  which  to  buy 
clothes  and  what  was  left  he  might  use  for  spending 
money.'  Why  he  lived  to  found  a  great  paper  the 
the  reader  can  easily  guess,  when  it  is  learned  that 


62  HIDDEN  TREASURES. 

Greeley  used  the  greater  part  of  said  forty  dollars  each 
year  for  buying  books. 

He  joined  a  local  debating  club  where  he  became  the 
^  giant  ^  member,  a  tribute  paid  to  his  intellect.  Most 
of  the  members  were  older  than  Greeley,  but  knowledge 
proved  a  power  in  that  society  and  he  was  invariably 
listened  to  with  marked  attention  despite  his  shabby 
appearance.  Especially  was  he  fond  of  political  data  ; 
he  followed  the  exchanges  in  the  Siyedator  ofl&ce  with 
increasing  interest.  His  parents  removed  to  Pennsyl- 
vania, where  he  visited  them  during  his  apprenticeship 
as  ^'  printers'  devil,"  and  general  assistant  at  Poultney  , 
walking  the  most  of  the  way,  a  distance  of  about  600 
miles.  The  Spectator  having  collapsed,  young  Greeley, 
with  his  entire  wardrobe  done  up  in  a  handkerchief, 
once  more  visits  Pennsylvania,  but  not  to  remain  idle  ; 
he  soon  obtained  a  place  in  a  printing  office  near  his 
home,  at  eleven  dollars  per  month,  and  later  still  he 
obtains  employment  at  Erie  where  he  receives  fifteen 
dollars  per  month.  Soon  after  this,  not  yet  content,  he 
is  enroute  for  New  York,  where  he  arrived  August 
17,  1831. 

His  appearance  in  the  metropolis  was  ludicrous  in 
the  extreme.  One  can  imagine  from  accounts  given  of 
him  how  prepossessing  he  must  have  looked  ;  flaxen 
locks,  blue  eyes,  his  hat  on  the  back  of  his  head  as  if 
accustomed  to  star  gazing,  must  have  given  him 
the  appearance  of  one  decidedly  '  green,'  to  say  the  least. 
As  is  a  noted  fact  he  was,  to  his  death,  exceedingly 
indifferent  as  to  his  dress  and  what  are  known  as  the 
social  demands  of  society.  Indeed  he  could  be  seen  on 
the  street  almost  any  day  with  his  pockets  stuffed  full 
of  papers,  his  hat  pushed  back  on  his  head  like  a  sailor 


OUR  country's  wealth  and  who  possess  it.       63 

about  to  ascend  the  rigging,  his  spectacles  seemingly 
about  to  slip  off  his  nose,  his  boot  heels  running  over, 
and  we  doubt  not  that  he  was  as  likely  to  have  one  leg 
of  his  pantaloons  tucked  into  his  boot  top  while  the 
other  was  condescendingly  allowed  to  retain  its  proper 
place.  In  facl^  it  is  hardly  probable  that  he  would  have 
impressed  any  one  with  the  idea  that  he  was  indeed  a 
great  editor  of  that  city.  But  we  return  to  his  first  visit ; 
office  after  office  was  visited  without  avail  but  that  he- 
reditary '  tenacity '  did  not  forsake  him,  and  at  last  he 
met  an  old  friend,  a  Mr.  Jones  whom  he  had  first  met 
in  Poultney.  This  friend,  although  not  a  '  boss, '  printer 
fashion  set  him  at  work  on  his  own  case.  When  the 
proprietor  came  in  he  was  dumbfounded  at  the  speci- 
men of  a  printer  he  beheld,  and  declared  to  the  fore- 
man that  he  could  not  keep  him.  Fortunately,  how- 
ever, for  young  Greeley,  the  job  that  he  was  on  was 
setting  small  type, — a  most  undesirable  one.  The  fore- 
man shrewdly  suggested  that  as  Jones,  who  was  a  good 
workman,  knew  him  it  would  be  a  good  policy  to  wait 
and  see  the  result.  As  it  was  a  very  difficult  job  no 
wonder  that  Greeley's  proof  looked  as  though  it  had  the 
measles,  but  as  he  was  retained  he  must  have  done  as 
well  if  not  better  than  was  expected.  When  the  job 
was  finished  he  was  thrown  out  of  employment,  and  he 
shifted  about  for  some  time  doing  odd  jobs  ;  in  fact 
it  must  have  been  very  discouraging,  but  finally  he  ob- 
tained employment  on  the  Spirit  of  the  Times,  and  after- 
ward formed  a  business  partnership  with  Mr.  Story  who, 
with  Mr.  Greeley,  invested  about  $240.  They  established 
a  penny  paper,  and  were  moderately  successful,  but  Mr. 
Story  was  drowned  and  his  place  was  filled  by  another. 
His  connf^ction  with  the  New  Yorker  was  his  next  busi- 


64  HIDDEN    TREASURES. 

ness  venture.  While  on  this  paper  he  was  also  editor  of 
a  paper  in  Albany,  and  a  regular  contributor  to  the 
Daily  Whig.  When  we  think  that  he  gave  himself  only 
four  hours  sleep  out  of  the  twenty-four,  we  can  realize 
how  he  could  find  time  to  edit  two  papers  and  write  for 
the  third,  but  despite  this  assiduousness  his  enterprise 
failed  and  he  thereby  lost  $10,000. 

Greeley's  opinion  on  economy  was  clearly  defined 
when  he  said  :  "  For  my  own  part,  and  I  speak  from 
sad  experience,  I  would  rather  be  a  convict  in  States 
Prison  or  a  slave  in  a  rice  swamp,  than- to  pass  through 
life  under  the  harrow  of  debt.  If  you  have  but  fifty 
cents  and  can  get  no  more  for  the  week,  buy  a  peck  of 
corn,  parch  it,  and  live  on  it  rather  than  owe  any  man  a 
dollar."  He  next  started  the  Log  Cabin.  It  was  started 
in  the  beginning  of  1840,  designed  to  be  run  six  months 
and  then  discontinued.  Into  this  undertaking  Horace 
Greeley  threw  all  his  energy  and  ability,  guided  by  his 
experience.  In  those  days  a  journal  with  a  circulation 
of  ten  thousand  was  a  big  concern.  When  an  edition  of 
nearly  fifty  thousand  of  its  first  issue  was  called  for,  the 
publishers  were  beside  themselves,  and  later  when  the 
Log  Cabin  ran  up  a  circulation  of  eighty  and  even  ninety 
thousand,  the  proprietors  were  frantic  as  to  how  they 
should  get  them  printed.  It  is  needless  to  say  that  the 
Log  Cabin  outlived  its  original  expectations. 

Ultimately  the  Log  Cabin  and  the  NeAv  Yorker  were 
merged  into  the  Neiv  York  Tribune.  As  is  a  recognized 
fact,  Greeley  was  stronger  in  a  fight  than  in  peace,  and 
the  attacks  which  this  new  enterprise  received  soon  run 
its  circulation  from  the  hundreds  into  the  thousands. 
Of  course  new  presses  had  to  be  bought  and  Greeley, 
who  by  the  way  preferred  to  discuss  the  financial  policy 
4 


OUR  country's   wealth,  and  who  possess  it.      65 

of  a  great  nation  than  that  of  his  own  olfice,  soon 
found  himself  obliged  to  get  a  business  man  as  a  part- 
ner. He  was  excedingly  fortunate  in  securing  Mr. 
Thomas  McElrath,  who  soon  brought  order  from  chaosj 
and  the  Tribune  became  not  only  an  ably  conducted 
paper  but  a  paying  one  as  well. 

Mr.  Greeley  next  became  a  lecturer,  and  in  this  field 
he  was  also  fairly  successful.  He  traveled  in  Europe 
and  wrote  such  books  as  "Hints  About  Reform," 
**  Glances  at  Europe,"  ''History  of  the  Slavery  Extension," 
"Overland  Journey  from  New  York  to  San  Francisco," 
"The  American  Conflict,"  "Recollections  of  a  Busy  Life," 
"Essays  on  Political  Economj^,"  and  just  before  his 
death,  "What  I  Know  About  Farming." 

While  Mr.  Greeley  must  ever  be  regarded  among 
journalists  as  one  of  their  brightest  stars  ;  he  was  one  of 
the  most  peculiar  writers  it  has  ever  been  our  pleasure 
to  read.  In  fact  he  must  be  regarded  as  a  kind  of  liter- 
rary  gymnast.  While  conducting  a  political  paper  he  at 
one  time  devoted  page  after  page  to  the  theory  of  reor- 
ganizing society  after  the  plan  of  Fourier ;  that  is  to 
divide  society  up  into  small  communities  to  live  in  com- 
mon. After  wearying  the  readers  on  this  and  numer- 
ous other  'isms,'  it  was  discontinued.  He  went  into  a 
political  frenzy  over  Clay  and  protection  ;  next  his 
paper  was  full  of  the  'Irish  Repeal,'  'Advocacy  of  the 
Water  Cure,"  Phrenology,"  Mesmerism,' 'Opposition  to 
Capital  Punishment," 'Trinitarianism '  and  the  'Drama.' 
He  was  finally  elected  to  Congress  to  fill  an  unexpired 
term.  While  here  he  caused  some  amusement  by  his 
eccentricities.  He  refused  to  sit  up  at  night  sessions, 
abruptly  leaving  when  his  hour  for  retiring  arrived. 
Possibly  his  letter  addressed  to  the  managers  of  his 


66  HIDDEN    TREASURES. 

party  in  his  State  was  one  of  the  greatest  surj^rises  that 
he  ever  sprung  upon  the  country.     It  was  addressed  to 
Mr.  Seward  personally,  but  upon  mention  being  made  of 
it  by  that  gentlemen's  friends,   it  was  made  public  by 
Greeley's  demand.    It  ran  something  as  follows  :  "  The 
election  is  over,  and  its  results  sufficiently  ascertained. 
It  seems  to  me  a  fitting  time  to  announce  to  you  the  dis- 
solution of  the  political  firm  of  Seward,  Weed  and  Gree- 
ley by  the  withdrawal  of  the  junior  partner,  said  with- 
drawal to  take  effect  on  the  morning  after  the  first  Tues- 
day in  February  next.    I  was  a  poor  young  printer,  and 
editor  of  a  literary  journal — a  very  active  and  bitter  Whig 
in  a  small  way,  but  not  seeking  to  be  known  outside  of 
my  own  ward  committee.  I  was  one  day  called  to  the  City 
Hotel  where  two  strangers   introduced  themselves  as 
Thurlow  Weed  and  Lewis  Benedict,  of  Albany.     They 
told  me  that  a  cheap  campaign  paper  of  peculiar  stamp 
at  Albany  had  been  resolved  on,  and  that  I  had  been  se- 
lected to  edit  it.    I  did  the  work  required  to  the  best  of 
my  ability.  It  was  work  that  made  no  figure  and  created 
no  sensation  ;  but  I  loved  it  and  I  did  it  well. 

When  it  was  done  you  were  Governor ;  dispensing 
offices  worth  three  to  twenty  thousand  to  your  friends 
and  compatriots,  and  I  returned  to  my  garret  and  mj 
crust  and  my  desperate  battle  with  pecuniary  obliga- 
tions heaped  upon  me  by  bad  partners  in  business  and 
the  disastrious  events  of  1837.  I  believe  it  did  not  occur 
to  me  then  that  some  one  of  these  abundant  places 
might  have  been  offered  to  me  without  injustice.  I  now 
think  it  should  have  occurred  to  you.  In  the  Harrison 
campaign  of  1840  I  was  again  designated  to  edit  a  cam- 
paign paper.  I  published  it  as  well  and  hence  ought  to 
have  made  something  out  of  it  despite  its  low  price. 


OUR  country's   wealth,  and  who  possess  it.      67 

My  extreme  povery  was  the  main  reason  why  I  did  not. 

Now  came  the  great  scramble  of  the  swell  mob  ol 
coon  minstrels  and  cider  suckers  at  Washington,  I  not 
being  counted  in.  I  asked  nothing,  expected  nothing, 
but  you  Governor  Seward  ought  to  have  asked  that  I  be 
Post  Master  at  New  York." 

When  the  Republicans  met  at  Chicago  he  ^paid'  Mr. 
Seward  off  by  checkmating  his  chances  of  the  nomina- 
tion, and  placing  Lincoln  at  the  head  of  the  ticket.  Mr. 
Greeley  had  always  been  an  uncompromising  opponent  of 
slavery,  and  once  had  all  but  asked  for  the  impeachment 
of  Buchanan,  hence  the  South  expected  little  sympathy 
from  him;  yet,  this  great  editor  dismays  his  friends 
while  his  enemies  are  dumbfounded  when  they 
read,  "Let  the  South  go,"  but  no  sooner  do  the  ^erring 
sisters '  act  upon  his  suggestion  than  this  political  ranch- 
man is  out  with  his  literary  lasso  vainly  trying  to  keep 
them  in.  He  next  raises  the  war-whoop  of  ''On  to  Rich- 
mond," and  thereby  aids  in  precipitating  the  terrible 
disaster  of  Bull  Run.  Time  goes  on — ^the  Union  cause 
looks  gloomy  enough — all  seems  lost ;  yet,  when  once 
more  the  nation  needs  his  powerful  support  he  rushes  off 
to  Canada  unauthorized,  to  negotiate  a  treaty  with  South- 
ern Envoys  which,  to  say  the  least,  would  have  been  dis- 
graceful to  the  Union  Government.  When  the  cause  is 
won  he  flees  to  Washington  to  sign  the  bail-bond  of  the 
arch  traitor,  and  is  thus  instrumental  in  his  release  from 
justice.    Yet,  for  all  this  the  Tribune  prospered. 

He  was  regarded  by  many  of  his  readers  as  a  kind  of 
moral  law-giver,  and  if , per  chance,one  person  journeyed 
to  New  York  and  returned  to  state  that  their  beau  ideal 
had  used  undue  profanity  in  his  common  conversation, 
the  indiscrete  individual  was  ostracised. 


68  HIDDEN    TREASURES. 

If  Mr.  Greeley's  previous  career  had  surprised  thQ 
country  and  disappointed  some  of  his  friends,  it  re- 
mained for  the  last  political  act  of  his  life  to  com- 
pletely paralyze  the  country  at  large,  and  plunge  some 
of  his  most  ardent  supporters  into  the  deepest  gloom. 
This  was  when  they  beheld  him  the  nominee  of  Repub- 
licans, 'who  were  anything  to  elect  Greeley,'  and  en- 
dorsed by  Free  Traders  and  Democrats  whom  he  had  so 
bitterly  denounced  all  his  life.  Had  he  been  nominated 
by  the  straight  Eepublican  party  it  might  have  been 
considered  as  a  somewhat  extravagant  reward  for  party 
service  for  this  position  could  not  have  been  regarded 
otherwise  than  consistent ;  but  the  position  he  now  as- 
sumed was  inconsistent,  not  to  say  ludicrous.  The  result 
was  he  carried  only  six  States  against  the  successful  Grant. 

He  was  a  Unive*"salist  in  belief,  but  educated  his 
daughters  at  a  Cafcholic  school.  He  refused  to  get  his 
brother,  who  actually  needed  assistance,  a  position  worth 
perhaps  $1,000  a  year  ;  yet,  he  could  lend  Corneel.  Yan- 
-derbilt  about  eight  hundred  thousand  dollars  without 
security.  His  early  friend,  Mr.  Jones,  once  sent  a  friend 
to  him  bearing  a  note  requesting  Greeley's  aid  to  a  sub- 
ordinate position  in  the  custom-house.  No  sooner  had 
Greeley  glanced  it  over  than  he  astonished  the  gentle- 
man, who  was  aware  of  Mr.  Greeley's  early  obligation  to 
Mr.  Jones,  by  the  volley  of  oaths  and  vituperation  which 
he  heaped  upon  him  because  he  did  not  go  West  instead 
of  hanging  around  there  seeking  office.  No  wonder  the 
gentleman,  who  was  a  reputable  middle-aged  man,  fled 
from  the  presence  of  this  famous  expounder  of  'Moral 
Ideas.'  However,  when  all  this  has  been  said  we  cannot 
help  but  admit  that  a  great  and  good  man  died  on  De- 
cember 29th,  1872.  Certain  it  is  that  Journalism  lost 
one  of  its  brightest  and  most  successful  stars. 


OUR  country's  wealth,  and  who  possess  it.       69 


Thurlow  Weed, 


WHO  indeed  has  not  heard  of  Thurlow  Weed,  "  The 
king  maker,"  born  at  Cairo,  Greene  County,  New 
York,  November  15,  1797.  His  father  was  a  teamster 
and  farmer.  The  reader  can  get  some  insight  into  the 
seemingly  mysterious  power  he  held  for  so  many  years, 
when  it  was  known  that  so  great  was  his  thirst  for 
know^ledge  that  he  was  glad  to  wrap  bits  of  a  rag  carpet 
about  his  feet  and  thus  shod  walk  through  the  snow  two 
miles  to  borrow  a  history  of  the  French  Revolution, 
which  he  mastered  at  night,  stretched  before  ^the  sap 
bush  fire.' 

The  more  one  investigates  the  character  and  lives  of 
those  men  whom  we  so  often  envy,  the  more  we  are 
forced  to  see  that  it  was  will-power  rightly  directed  that 
overcame  all  obstacles.  Certain  it  is  to  this  that  Thur- 
low Weed  owes  his  everlasting  fame  as  the  ^  American 
Warwick';  for  knowledge  is  power.  He  first  left  the 
farm  work  as  a  cabin  boy  on  a  Hudson  river  steam- 
boat bound  for  New  York,  but  being  born  a  journalist 
he  soon  drifted  into  a  printing  office  where  he  became 
a  good  journeyman. 

When  the  second  war  with  Great  Britain  broke  out 
he  enlisted,  and  served  on  the  Northern  frontier,  where 
by  faithfulness  he  became  Quartermaster  Sergeant. 
When  the  war  was  over  he  returned  to  the  printing 
office,  being  at  one  time  in  the  same  establishment  with 
the  late  James  Harper.  Finally  he  started  a  paper  at 
Oxford,  New  York,  in  1818.    He  afterward  became  con- 


70  HIDDEN   TREASURES. 

nected  with  the  Onondaga  Times,  which  he  finally 
changed  to  the  Bejpublican,  For  the  next  few  years  he 
is  connected  with  several  different  papers  until  we  find 
him  in  Rochester  at  the  head  of  the  Anti-Masonic 
Enquirer. 

About  this  time  the  body  of  a  man  who  had  drowned 
in  Lake  Ontario  was  found,  and  it  was  claimed  that  his 
name  was  Morgan  ;  if  so,  he  was  a  renegade  mason.  A 
question  of  identity  was  raised,  but  as  his  murder  was 
boldly  asserted  to  have  been  the  work  of  Masonry,  it 
caused  a  great  excitement  for  the  time  being.  This  ex- 
citement divided  the  political  parties  into  Mason  and 
Anti-Mason  factions.  Anti-Masonry  was  the  political 
fertilizer  which  produced  the  astonishing  growth  of  the 
assiduous  Weed,  he  being  sent  to  the  Assembly  twice, 
mainly  on  that  issue.  While  at  Albany  his  ability  as  a 
party  leader  becoming  so  apparent  he  was  decided  upon 
as  the  proper  person  to  assume  the  party  leadership 
against  the  obnoxious  ^Albany  Regency,'  the  great  Demo- 
cratic power  in  New  York  State  at  the  time.  He  according- 
ly moved  to  Albany  and  assumed  the  editorship  of  the 
Albany  Evening  Journal.  Weed  was  one  of  the  men 
who  consolidated  the  Anti-Jackson,  Anti-Mason  and  old 
Federal  factions  into  the  Whig  party.  The  'Regency' 
with  which  he  had  to  deal  consisted  of  such  men  as 
Martin  Van  Buren,  Silas  Wright,  Willian  L.  Marcy  and 
others  of  equal  ability.  Such  were  the  men  with  whom 
he  was  pitted,  but  they  soon  found  him  in  every  way 
worthy  of  their  steel.  No  one.  when  speaking  of  this 
great  political  warrior  ever  thought  or  spoke  of  him  as 
a  millionaire.  Seemingly  no  one  cared  how  much  he 
was  worth  ;  but  what  did  worry  them  was, — what  will 
be  the  outcome  of  this  secret  conclave  which  we  now 


OUR  country's   v/ealth,  and  who  possess  it.       71 

suspect-  to  be  in  progress  at  the  headquarters  of  the  op- 
position of  the  'Albany  Eegency.' 

He  went  to  battle  fearlessly,  and  his  terse  pen  dealt 
stinging  blows  straight  in  the  face  of  the  opponent.     In- 
deed, as  an  editor  he  has  been  rarely  equaled.     While 
Greeley  w^ould    devote    a   column    to    an    article,    he 
would  take  the  same  subject  and  in  a  few  words  put  the 
argument  in  such  shape  as  to  carry  far  more  conviction. 
His  two  terms  in  the   State  Assembly  wound  up  his 
career  as  a  legislator,  although  he  could  have  had  any 
place  within  the  gift  of  his  party  from   1830  to  1860. 
His  ambition  was  not  to  hold  office  but  to  rule  men,  and 
it  is  well-known  that  his  desires  were  accomplished.    He 
was  a  great  dictator,  being  largely  instrumental  as  an 
independent  advisor  in  the  selection  of  Harrison,  Taylor 
and  Scott.     His  first  trial  of  personal  strength  in  this 
line  was  when  he  secured  the  nomination  and  election 
of  his  personal  friend,  William  H.  Seward,  as  the  first 
Whig  Governor  of  New  York.    Mr.  Seward,  who  was  an 
unobtrusive  man,  was  one  time  riding  with  the  driver 
on  a  stage  when  that  dignitary  asked  the  stranger  his 
name  and  business,  as  was  customary  when  people  did 
not  volunteer  the  information.   The  answer  was,   "Why, 
I'm  William  H.  Seward,  Governor  of  the  State."    This 
was  too  good  for  the  driver,  whose  answer  was  a  loud 
laugh,    plainly  implying   that  he   considered  that  the 
gentleman  had  given  a  most  cute  but  evasive  answer. 
"Don't  you  believe  me"?  asked  Seward.      "Of  course 
not,"  replied  the    driver.     Mr.   Seward,  who  was  ac- 
quainted with  the  proprietor   of  the  next  hotel  they 
came  to,  agreed  to  leave  it  to  him.    In  time  they  arrived 
and  the  driver,  calling  out  the  landlord,   immediately 
said,  "This  man  says  he  is  Governor  of  New  York  State 


72  HIDDEN    TREASURES. 

and  we  have  left  the  matter  to  you."  ^' Yes/' broke  in 
Seward,  ''ami  not  Governor  of  this  State?"  The  an- 
swer came  quick  and  sharp;  "No,  but  Thurlow  Weed  is." 
^*  There,"  exclaimed  the  ignorant  driver,  who  could  not 
see  the  point  at  once  ;  "I  knew  you  weren't  Governor  of 
New  York  State." 

In  1864  Mr.  Weed  sold  the  JowrnaZ,  but  never  entirely 
suspended  literary  Vv^ork.  He  afterw^ard  assumed  the 
editorship  of  the  ISleiv  York  Commercial  Advertiser ,  and 
often  sent  letters  to  the  Tribune.  In  1882,  shortly  before 
his  death,  the  country  was  set  in  a  flutter  by  his  publish- 
ing the  whole  details  relating  to  the  Morgan  matter, 
which  he  had  kept  all  this  time  claiming  it  would  injure 
certain  parties,  but  as  the  last  had  died,  it  was  now  made 
public.  On  November  23rd  of  the  same  year  one  more 
great  journalist  passed  away.  He  left  a  large  estate,  but 
a  larger  host  of  friends. 


George  W,  Childs. 


NO  one  can  read  the  life  of  George  W.  Childs  without 
a  feeling  slowly  coming  over  him  that  the  possibili- 
ties of  our  country  are  indeed  very  great.  Certain  it  is 
that  when  we  see  so  many  examples  showing  what  has 
been  done  by  poor  boys  from  the  farm,  we  are  forced  to 
exclaim  that  we  live  in  a  free  country ;  despite  what 
some  say  we  reiterate,  our  country  is  free. 

George  W.   Childs,  at  the  age  of  ten,  became  an 


OUR  country's  wealth,  and  who  possess  it.      73 

errand  boy  in  a  book-store  in  Baltimore,  and  after  a 
period  of  over  a  year  in  the  Navy  which  he  served  later, 
he  removed  to  Philadelphia  and  once  more  entered  a 
book-store — his  natural  calling.  After  four  years'  ap- 
prenticeship, when  less  than  twenty,  with  his  savings  he 
opened  a  small  book-store  on  his  own  account. 

"Where  there's  a  will  there's  a  way,"  so  believed 
young  Childs.  He  determined  to  one  day  be  proprietor  of 
the  Philadelphia  Puhlic  Ledger.  "Aim  high  that  you 
may  not  strike  low," — how  true  that  adage  is.  When  you 
see  a  boy  make  up  his  mind  to  do  something  ;  if  he  makes 
his  actions  correspond  with  his  words,  you  can  rest  as- 
sured that  it  will  be  done.  Sickness  may  come ;  disap- 
pointments will  follow,  but  all  must  be  overcome. 

Jerome  B.  Rice  determined  to  succeed  in  the  seed 
business,  but  just  as  success  seemed  about  to  crown  his 
efforts  that  terrible  disease,  rheumatism,  came  and  de- 
formed him.  He  lost  the  entire  use  of  his  lower  limbs, 
but  his  brain  was  spared,  and  his  determination  was  un- 
shaken. An  invalid  chair  was  bought,  a  colored  man 
wheels  him  every  morning  to  his  office  door  where 
loving  hands  gently  lift  him,  chair  and  all,  up  the  steps 
of  the  beautiful  building  now  occupied  and  owned  by 
Jerome  B.  Rice  &  Co.  Nearly  thirty  years  have  passed 
and  Jerome  B.  Rice  has  not  taken  a  step,  but  during  that 
time,  despite  all  obstacles,  the  firm  of  Jerome  B.  Rice  & 
Co.  has  become  one  of  the  leading  seed-growing  concerns 
of  America.  Young  men  with  the  same  chance  he  had 
are  apt  to  say,  "It's  no  use."  We  answer,  "Where  there's 
a  will  there's  a  way."  "To  think  a  thing  impossible  is 
to  make  it  so." 

George  W.  Childs  determined  to  own  the  Puhlic  Led- 
ger,   He  determined  to  own  the  leading  paper  of  the 


74  HIDDEN   TREASURES. 

great  city  of  Philadelphia,  and  he  was  a  poor  boy.  Was 
this  presumption  ?  If  it  was  he  has  proved  its  practica- 
bility. If  he  was  building  an  air-castle  he  has  since 
placed  a  firm  foundation  under  it.  He  labored  hard  in 
this  little  store  of  his ;  he  built  his  own  fires ;  he  did  his 
own  sweeping, — it  was  the  same  old  story;  he  hired 
done  nothing  that  he  could  himself  do.  He  made  some 
money — not  very  fast — but  a  good  average  profit,  and 
he  saved  what  he  did  earn.  He  mastered  the  publishing 
business,  and  he  developed  a  marked  business  capacity 
in  that  line.  A  man  usually  fills  the  notch  for  which  he 
is  fitted  :  I  was  about  to  say — I  will  say  that  he  fits  him- 
self to  the  notch  which  he  does  fill.  Sometime  we 
see  men  in  subordinate  positions  who  apparently  are 
capable  of  the  best,  but  a  careful  study  reveals  a  screw 
loose  somewhere ;  there  is  a  weak  point,  and  invariably 
that  point  is  the  one  thing  which  stands  between  them 
and  victory.  ''Neither  do  men  light  a  candle  and  put  it 
under  a  bushel,  but  on  a  candle  stick,  and  it  giveth  light 
to  all  that  are  in  the  house."  So  said  Christ  eighteen 
hundred  years  ago  ;  is  it  not  so  to-day  ?  As  young  Childs 
had  ability,  and  it  was  apparent,  what  matter  it  how  old 
he  was  or  where  he  came  from  ?  All  the  world  asks  is, 
^'Whatcanhedo"? 

The  publishing  firm  of  R.  E.  Peterson  &  Co.  sought 
his  alliance,  and  the  firm  of  Childs  and  Peterson  became 
known  far  and  near.  Do  our  readers  call  this  luck  ?  He 
now  became  a  successful  publisher,  and  seemingly  his 
cup  was  running  over,  so  far  as  this  world  was  concerned, 
but  it  will  be  remembered  that  years  a.go  he  determined 
to  own  the  Fuhlic  Ledger^  provided  he  lived.  He  was 
alive  and  his  purpose  still  remained.  He  was  waiting 
and  watching.     The  Ledger  was  a  penny  paper — the  war 


OUR  country's   wealth,  and  who  possess  it.       75 

broke  out — stock  went  up — the  management  was  weak- 
ened by  death  and  other  complications,  the  Public  Ledger 
was  losing  nearly  $500  every  time  it  went  to  press.  The 
paper,  great  as  it  was,  was  losing  $8,000  a  week — at  the 
rate  of  $150,000  a  year.  Now  was  Mr.  Child's  chance. 
In  vain  did  friends  entreat ;  in  vain  did  wise  business 
men  shake  their  heads  ;  Mr.  Childs  felt  that  his  time  had 
come,  and  he  bought  the  paper,  paying  for  it  nearly 
$150,000.  The  new  proprietor  changed  things;  the  pa- 
per was  made  a  two  cent  issue,  and  into  the  Public  Led- 
ger he  now  threw  his  whole  soul.  "There  is  a  tide  in  the 
affairs  of  men,  which  taken  at  the  flood  leads  on  to 
fortune."  It  is  even  so ;  he  had  purchased  the  Ledger  at 
the  right  time. 

Not  one  man  in  a  hundred  can  successfully  edit  a 
newspaper;  not  one  editor  in  twenty  could  edit  i]iQ  Pub- 
lic Ledger  with  success.  Yet,  Mr.  Childs  is  one  man  out 
of  the  hundreds — he  is  the  one  editor  out  of  that  twenty. 
He  determined  to  publish  only  the  truth ;  all  claim  to  do 
that,  but  Mr.  Childs  does  it.  The  paper  grew,  and  on  the 
20th  of  June,  1867,  the  Public  Ledger  took  possession  of 
its  new  building.  This  new  building  cost  half  a  million 
of  dollars,  and  is  one  of  the  finest  in  the  city.  At  its 
formal  opening  many  of  the  most  distinguished  men  in 
the  country  were  present. 

Mr.  Childs  has  been  largely  instrumental  in  establish- 
ing a  small  city  at  Wayne  Station.  He  owns  a  large 
tract  of  land  which  he  has  divided  into  building  lots  of 
about  an  acre  each.  Any  one  desiring  a  home  can  get 
one  by  paying  one-third  down,  and  he  is  also  furnished 
plans  from  which  to  select  his  ideal  of  a  home.  The 
houses  built  from  these  plans  cost  from  $2,000  to  $8,000 
each.    Mr.  Childs  and  his  partner,  Mr.  Drexel,  have  ex- 


76  HIDDEN    TREASURES. 

pended  about  $2,000,000  exclusively  for  beautifying  the 
city. 

Years  ago  Mr.  Childs  told  a  gentleman  that  he  meant 
to  prove  that  a  man  could  be  at  once  liberal  and  success- 
ful as  a  man  of  business,  and  the  princely  hospitality  of 
this  good  man  has  demonstrated,  beyond  doubt  or  con- 
tradiction, its  practicability.    Dinners  to  newsboys  and 
life  insurance  policies  given  to  the  wives  of  his  em- 
ployes;    such  acts  make  up  the  history  of  his  life.    The 
late  Chief  Justice  of  Pennsylvania  once  said  in  a  speech: 
^*  Some  men  pursue  military  glory,  and  spend  their  time 
and  energies  in  the  subjugation  of  nations.     Caesar  and 
Napoleon  may  be  named  as  types  of  this  character.  But 
the  tears  and  blood  which  follow  violence  and  wrong 
maculate  the  pages  of  history  on  which  their  glory  is 
recorded.    Others  erect  splendid  palaces  for  kingly  resi- 
dences, and  costly  temples  and  edifices  for  the  promo 
tion  of  education  and  religion  in  accordance  with  their 
particular  views.    But  views  of  education  and  religion 
change,  buildings  waste  away,   and  whole  cities,  like 
Herculaneum  and  Pompeii,    are  buried  in  the  earth. 
Others  again  win  public  regard  by  the  construction  of 
means  of  communication  for  the  furtherance  of  com- 
merce.   The  canals,  railroads,  and  telegraph  are  glorious 
specimens  of  their  useful  exertion  for  the  public  good. 
But  the  marts  of  commerce  change.     Tyre  and  Sidon, 
and  Venice  are  no  longer  commercial  centres.  The  shores 
of  the  Pacific  are  even  now  starting  in  a  race  against  the 
great  commercial  emporium  of  our  continent.     But  Mr. 
Childs  has  planted  himself  in  the  human  heart,  and  he 
will  have  his  habitation  there  while  man  shall  dwell 
upon  earth.     He  has  laid  the  foundation  of  his  monu- 
ment upon  universal  benevolence.    Its  superstructure  is 


'OUR  country's   wealth,  and  who  possess  it.       il 

composed  of  good  and  noble  deeds.  Its  spire  is  the  love 
of  God  which  ascends  to  Heaven."  Such  a  monument 
IS,  indeed, 

*  A  Pyramid  so  wide  and  high 
That  Cheops  stand  in  envy  by." 

Is  not  that  glorious  success  ?  But  if  the  name  of 
George  W.  Childs  was  not  a  synonym  for  charity  and 
philanthropy,  the  fact  that  he  has  demonstrated  beyond 
doubt  the  possibility  of  making  a  newspaper  not  only 
pure  and  clean,  but  also  proving  that  people  will  buy 
wholesome  news,  as  well  as  trash,  and  thus  refuting  the 
opinion  that  the  people  are  wholly  responsible  for  the 
vile  matter  that  is  circulated,  ought  alone  to  commend 
him  to  the  world  as  a  great  benefactor.  Worldly  rea- 
soners  and  great  financiers,  wiseacres  and  successful 
editors  prophesied  its  failure,  but  what  mattered  this  to 
George  W.  Childs  ?  When  a  boy  he  determined  to  one 
day  own  the  Public  Ledger ;  he  accomplished  that.  When 
a  man  he  determined  to  elevate  the  tone  of  a  newspa- 
per, and  thus  prove  the  fallacy  of  the  opinion  that  "A 
newspaper  must  print  all  the  news,  no  matter  what,  or 
else  fail " ; — he  has  here  also  fulfilled  his  desires.  Surely, 
"Where  there's  a  will  there's  a  way." 


James  Gordon  Bennett. 


WHEN  Horace  Greeley  was  starting  the  Tribune  the 
Herald  was  five  or  six  years  old,  and  its  success  as- 
sured.  Mr.   Greeley  started  his  as  an  uncompromising 


78  HIDDEN   TREASURES. 

party  paper ;  Mr.  Bennett  presented  the  Herald  to  the  peo- 
as  an  independent  paper,  the  tirst  ever  published  that 
was  simply  an  indicator  of  public  opinion  bound  and 
gagged  by  no  party. 

To  Scotland  shall  we  as  a  nation  ever  be  indebted  for 
one  of  the  greatest  journalists  of  the  nineteenth  century. 
When  about  fifteen  years  old  he  entered  a  Catholic  school 
at  Aberdeen  expecting  to  enter  the  clergy,  but  after  an 
academic  life  of  tw^o  or  three  years  he  abandoned  the 
idea.  This  sudden  change  was  in  no  small  degree  influ- 
enced by  an  edition  of  "Benjamin  Franklin's  Autobiog- 
raphy" which  was  published  in  Edinburgh  about  this 
time.  He  was  greatly  taken  with  the  spirit  of  this 
volume  which  found  sympathy  in  his  thrifty  Scotch  na- 
ture. From  the  moment  he  finished  this  life  of  Frank- 
lin he  determined  to  come  to  America,  and  after  a  short 
stay  in  Halifax,  and  Boston,  his  stay  in  each  place  being 
attended  with  great  privation,  we  find  him  in  the  year 
1822  in  the  city  of  New  York,  and  still  later  he  is  em- 
ployed on  the  Charleston  Courier,  of  Charleston,  South 
Carolina.  There  his  knowledge  of  Spanish  was  a  benefit, 
enabling  him  to  translate  the  Cuban  exchanges,  and  to 

decipher  the  advertisements  which  were  sent  in  that 
language. 

After  a  few  months  he  returned  to  New  York  where 
he  attempted  to  open  a  Commercial  School.  This 
scheme  came  to  naught,  however,  and  he  then  tried 
lecturing  on  political  economy  with  but  moderate  suc- 
cess to  say  the  least.  He  soon  saw  that  these  undertak- 
ings were  not  in  his  sphere,  and  once  more  he  returned  to 
journalism.  He  first  connected  himself  with  the  Neiv  York 
Courier  and  when  that  journal  became  merged  into  the 
Enquirer  he  was  chosen  associate  editor.   After  this  the 


OUR  country's  wealth,  and  who  possess  it.       79 

senior  editor,  J.  Watson  Webb,  turned  square  around  and 
began  to  support  the  United  States  Bank  which  he  had 
so  bitterly  opposed  and  fought  so  vehemently.  Young 
Bennett  now  withdrew  and  started  a  small  paper,  The 
Globe,  but  it  was  short-lived.  He  next  went  to  Phila- 
delphia and  assumed  the  principal  editorship  of  the 
Pemisylvanian.  At  that  time  all  papers  allied  them- 
selves to  one  party  or  the  other. 

Mr.  Bennett  conceived  the  idea  of  an  independent 
j)aper ;  one  which  would  be  bound  to  no  party  or  ring. 
He  accordingly  returned  to  New  York  for  this  purpose. 
He  was  very  short  of  funds,  and  this  fact  alone  would 
have  discouraged  most  young  men;  not  so  with  this 
man.  He  hired  a  cellar;  two  barrels  with  a  board 
across  served  as  desk  on  which  was  an  ink-stand  and 
goose  quill.  The  proprietor  of  these  apartments  was 
not  only  editor  and  manager,  but  reporter,  cashier, 
book-keeper,  salesman,  messenger  and  office  boy.  One 
hour  he  was  writing  biting  editorials  or  spicy  paragraphs; 
the  next  rushing  out  to  report  a  fire  or  some  other  catas- 
trophe, working  sixteen  to  twenty  hours  per  day.  He  per- 
suaded a  young  firm  to  print  his  paper,  and  he  was  thus 
tided  over  that  difficulty.  Most  young  men  would  never 
have  undertaken  such  a  task,  but  what  would  they  have 
done  had  they,  after  embarking  in  it,been  twice  burned 
out  and  once  robbed  within  the  first  fifteen  months  ? 
Such  was  the  experience  of  Bennett,  but  as  expressed  by 
himself,  he  raked  the  Herald  from  the  fire  by  almost 
superhuman  efforts,  and  a  few  months  later,  when  the 
great  fire  occurred  in  Wall  street,  he  went  to  the  scene 
himself  and  picked  up  all  kinds  of  information  about  the 
firms  burnt  out,  the  daring  deeds  of  the  firemen,  and 
anything  sensational  he  did  not  fail  to  print.     He  also 


80  HIDDEN    TREASURES. 

went  to  the  unheard  of  expense  of  printing  a  map  of 
the  burnt  district  and  a  picture  of  the  Produce  Exchange 
on  fire.  This  enterprise  cost,  but  it  gave  the  Herald  a 
boom  over  all  competitors,  which  it  well  maintains.  It 
was  the  first  paper  that  published  a  daily  money  article 
and  stock  list,  and  as  soon  as  possible  Bennett  set  up  a 
Ship  News  establishment  consisting  of  a  row-boat 
manned  hy  three  men  to  intercept  all  incoming  vessels 
and  ascertain  their  list  of  passengers  and  the  particulars 
of  the  voyage. 

Mr.  Calhoun's  speech  on  the  Mexican  war,  the  first 
ever  sent  to  any  paper  by  telegraph,  was  published  in 
the  Herald.  At  one  time  when  his  paper  wished  to  pre- 
cede all  rivals  in  publishing  a  speech  delivered  at  Wash- 
ington, for  the  purpose  of  holding  the  wire,  Mr.  Bennett 
ordered  the  telegraph  operator  to  begin  and  transmit 
the  whole  Bible  if  necessary,  but  not  to  take  any  other 
message  until  the  speech  came.  Such  enteriDrise  cost, 
but  it  paid ;  and  so  it  has  ever  been.  Seemingly  regard- 
less of  expense,  bureaus  of  information  for  the  Herald 
were  established  in  every  clime.  '  Always  ahead ' 
seemed  to  be  the  motto  of  James  Gordon  Bennett,  and 
surely  enterprise  was  no  small  factor  in  the  phenomenal 
success  of  the  Herald,  The  tone,  it  has  been  said,  was 
not  always  so  edifying  as  that  of  its  contemx)oraries,  the 
Po.s'^and  Commercial,  still  every  article  was  piercing  as  a 
Damascus  blade.  To  buy  one  paper  meant  to  become 
afterwards  one  of  its  customers.  It  was  indeed  aston- 
ishing what  a  variety  of  reading  was  contained  in  one  of 
those  penny  sheets ;  every  thing  was  fresh  and  i^iquant^ 
so  different  from  the  old  party  papers.  As  originally  in- 
tended, the  Herald  has  always  been  independent  in 
politics,  although  inclined  to  be  Democratic.  It  sup- 
5 


OUR  country's  wealth,  and  who  possess  it.      81 

ported  Fremont  and  the  Republican  party,  and  was  one 
of  the  staunch  war  papers. 

Mr.  Bennett  has  been  described  as  being  stern  and 
disagreeable  in  his  manners.  In  this  we  do  not  fully 
concur,  and  in  view  of  the  large  number  of  employes 
who  have  grown  old  in  his  service,  we  cannot  but  feel 
justified  in  this  belief.  Horace  Greeley  and  James  Gordon 
Bennett,  the  two  leading  New  York  journalists,  but  how 
different.  Mr.  Greeley  had  a  larger  personal  following 
than  the  Tribune;  the  Herald  had  a  larger  friendship 
than  did  Bennett  who  was  the  power  behind  the  throne. 
Journalism  lost  no  lesser  light  when  the  great  Herald 
editor  passed  awa^  J  tihg  1st,  1872,  than  it  did  six  months 
later  when  Horace  Greeley  parsed  from  darkness  into 
light.  As  Mr.  Bennett  vv^as  a  li:''e-long  Catholic,  he  re- 
ceived the  last  sacrament  from  the  hands  of  the  re- 
nowned Cardinal  McClosky. 


Phineas  T,  Barnum. 


WE  would  not  pass  by  so  remarkable  a  character  as 
that  presented  to  us  in  the  life  of  P.  T.  Barnum. 
a  man  born  of  poor  parents  at  Bethel,  Connecticut, 
Like  many  boys,  he  picked  up  pennies  driving  oxen  for 
his  father,  but  unlike  many  other  boys  he  would  invest 
these  earnings  in  nick-nacks  which  he  would  sell  to  joy- 
ful picknickers  on  every  holiday,  thus  his  pennies  in- 
creased to  dollars.    At  an  early  age  he  was  deprived  of 


82  HIDDEN   TREASURES. 

his  father,  and  began  work  for  himself  at  six  dollars  per 
month.  He  here  saved  his  money,  and  afterwards 
opened  a  store  which  proved  a  successful  business  ven- 
ture, especially  after  he  added  a  lottery  scheme.  It  is 
Interesting  to  read  of  the  many  of  our  successful  men 
who  have  drifted  from  one  thing  to  another  until  they 
settled  upon  some  life-work,  then  there  was  a  hard  strug- 
gle for  victory,  which  was  sure  to  come,  provided  they 
persevered. 

In  1835  Barnum  heard  of  a  negress  in  Philadelphia 
who  was  reputed  to  have  been  the  nurse  of  George 
Washington,  and  who  it  was  claimed  was  162  years  old. 
Barnum  immediately  set  out  for  Philadelphia,  and  suc- 
ceeded in  buying  her  for  $1,000.  This  was  more  money 
than  he  already  had ;  he,  therefore,  risked  more  than  he 
owned,  but  by  judicious  advertising  he  was  enabled  to 
draw  large  houses,  bringing  the  show  up  to  paying  $1,- 
500  per  week.  The  next  year  the  negress  died,  and  a 
post  mortem  examination  proved  her  to  be  possibly 
eighty  years  old,  but  Barnum  had  secured  a  good  start. 
From  this  time  on,  for  fifteen  years,  he  was  connected 
with  traveling  shows,  and  his  museum  proved  a  most 
profitable  enterprise. 

In  1842  Mr.  Barnum  first  heard  of  Mr.  Charles  Strat- 
ton,  whom  he  presented  to  the  world  as  General  Tom 
Thumb — exhibiting  him  in  both  America  and  Europe. 

In  1849,  after  much  correspondence,  he  secured  the 
sweet  singer,  Jenny  Lind,  for  one  hundred  nights,  at  one 
thousand  dollars  per  night.  His  profits  on  these  concerts 
were  simply  immense,  and  he  retired  from  business. 

In  1857  it  was  heralded  all  over  the  land  that  Barnum 
had  failed.  It  was  so ;  unfortunate  speculations  had 
swamped  him,  and  he  returned  to  New  York  a  bankrupt. 


OUR  country's  wealth,  and  who  possess  it.       83 

Without  a  dollar  he  bought  the  Museum  again,  and  in 
less  than  a  year  he  succeeded  in  paying  for  it.  His  life 
henceforth  has  been  full  of  its  ups  and  downs ;  twice  was 
he  burned  out,  but  as  often  he  came  forth  in  some  new 
role — or  rather  an  improvement  on  the  old. 

General  Tom  Thumb  was  again  taken  to  Europe.  This 
venture,  and  his  lecture  on  'Money  Making,'  in  England, 
succeeded  beyond  his  most  sanguine  expectations.  Every 
note  was  taken  up,  and  he  is  to-day  once  more  a  million- 
aire. He  has  been  for  years  the  central  figure  in  'The 
Greatest  Show  on  Earth,'  the  expense  of  which  is  from 
four  to  five  thousand  dollars  a  day.  But  not  alone  is  he 
great  as  a  showman ;  his  lectures  must  have  made  him 
noted,  and  he  is  connected  with  different  other  enter- 
prises. 

He  is  avery  shrewed  man,  and  is  also  honest.  Think  of 
it !  at  fifty  a  ruined  man,  owing  thousands  more  than  he 
possessed,  yet  resolutely  resuming  business  life  once 
more — fairly  wringing  success  from  adverse  fortune,  and 
paying  his  notes  at  the  same  time. 

When  solicited  for  money  with  which  to  carry  on  his 
campaign  for  Congress,  he  answered,  "  God  grant  that  I 
be  defeated,  sooner  than  one  grain  of  gold  be  so  basely 
used."  Such  principles  are  glorious,  and  upon  their  per^ 
petuation  depends  the  rise  or  fall  of  a  Republican  form 
of  government.  Mr.  Barnum's  latest  sensation,  in  order 
to  draw  crowds,  is  the  consolidation  of  his  great  show 
with  that  mammoth  show  formerly  belonging  to  Adam 
Forepaugh.  This  caps  the  climax,  the  two  "Greatest 
Shows  on  Earth ' '  united. 


84  HIDDEN   TREASURES. 


Mathew  Vassar. 


YASSAR  COLLEGE,  five  hundred  feet  long  and  five 
stories  high,  is  a  momument  of  which  any  man 
might  be  proud.  The  founder,  Mathew  Vassar,  was  born 
in  England  in  1792,  and  four  years  later  landed  in 
America,  settling  in  Poughkeepsie,  on  a  farm  with  his 

parents. 

In  those  days  the  English  people  thought  that  they 
could  n't  live  without  a  yearly  supply  of  home-brewed 
ale ;  such  a  thing  being  unknown  in  the  quiet  commu- 
nity to  which  they  had  come.  As  there  was  no  barley  to 
be  had,  seed  was  imported  from  the  mother-country  and 
the  family  once  more  enjoyed  their  favorite  beverage. 
When  neighbors  called  they  were,  of  course,  invited  to 
partake,  and  the  fame  of  Yassar's  ale  steadily  increased, 
until  finally  the  father  concluded  to  manufacture  the 
ale  to  sell.  Mathew,  for  some  reason,  disliked  to  go  into 
the  brewery  to  work,  and  the  irate  father  bound  him 
out  to  a  neighboring  tanner.  However,  when  the  time 
came  for  young  Yassar  to  go,  lo,  he  was  nowhere  to  be 

found.  . 

He  fled  to  Newburg,  where  he  remained  four  years, 

learning  to  keep  books,  and  saving  his  money.  He  then 
returned  to  his  home  and,  having  demonstrated  that  he 
could  both  earn  and  keep  money,  was  duly  installed 
in  his  father's  establishment  as  book-keeper.  All 
went  well  for  some  time,  till  at  last  a  fire  came,  destroy- 
ing all  the  property,  ruining  his  father,  and  worst  of  all 
causing  his  brother's  death.     The  father  now  returned 


OUR   COUNTRY  S    WEALTH,   AND   WHO   POSSESS  IT.        85 

to  a  farm,  but  Mathew  determined  to  retrieve  the  busi- 
ness. He  began  business  in  an  old  shed.  The  supply 
was  of  necessity  small,  but  it  was  an  A  1.  article, 
and  its  fame  increased,  making  the  ale  of  Yassar  known 
far  and  near.  From  such  a  beginning  the  business  de- 
veloped into  an  immense  establishment,  with  a  profita 
ble  business,  which  he  carried  on  for  over  thirty  years, 
when  he  retired. 

In  company  with  his  wife  he  made  an  European  tour, 
and  on  his  return  resolved  to  do  something  with  his 
money  for  the  betterment  of  society.  On  the  28th  of 
February,  1861,  twenty-eight  gentlemen  received  from 
Mathew  Yassar,  a  box  containing  $408,000,  in  trust,  for 
the  establishment  of  a  college  for  the  education  of 
young  ladies.  The  result  of  their  efforts  was  Yassar  Fe- 
male College,  afterwards  changed  to  Yassar  College. 
His  entire  donations  for  the  establishment  and  mainte- 
nance of  this  institution  of  learning  amounted  to  about 
$800,000.  It  was  the  first  Female  College  ever  estab- 
lished. His  influence  will  be  felt  by  the  numerous  gen- 
erations which  will  follow  him. 


John  Jacob  Astor. 


NOT  far  from  the  lovely  Hiedelberg  on  the  Rhine,  is  the 
picturesque  village  of  Walldorf,  which  is  the  birth 
place  of  John  Jacob  Astor,  who  was  born  in  1768.  His 
father  was  a  peasant,  thus  it  is  seen  that  he  had  not  the 


86  HIDDEN    TREASURES. 

advantages  of  family  influence  or  assistance.  He  saved 
what  little  money  lie  could  earn,  and  at  sixteen  set  out 
on  foot  for  the  sea  coast,  where  he  took  passage  in  a 
vessel  for  London.  He  had  a  brother  in  that  city  who 
was,  in  a  small  way,  a  manufacturer  of  musical  instru- 
ments. Here  he  remained  until  1783,  when  he  em- 
barked for  America,  taking  some  flutes  with  him.  On  the 
voyage  he  made  the  acquaintance  of  a  furrier.  This  in- 
dividual he  plied  with  numerous  questions,  until  he  was 
quite  familiar  with  the  business,  and  when  he  reached 
America  he  at  once  exchanged  his  fl.utes  for  furs, 
and  hastening  back  to  England  succeeded  in  selling  them 
at  a  fair  profit  over  all  expenses. 

Having  disposed  of  his  business  in  London,  he  en- 
gaged passage  in  a  ship  which  did  not  return  for  some 
weeks.  In  the  meantime  he  purchased  a  lot  of  goods 
which  he  thought  would  prove  salable  in  America.  He 
also  improved  the  time  in  visiting  the  Governor  of  the 
then  great  East  India  Company.  The  Governor  was 
from  his  native  town  in  Germany,  and  Astor,  making 
the  most  of  this  fact,  secured  from  him  a  permit  to 
trade  at  any  port  subject  to  the  East  India  Company. 
When  he  arrived  in  New  York  once  more  he  at  once 
closed  a  bargain  with  a  West  India  trader,  that  gentle- 
man furnishing  a  ship  and  cargo,  Astor  the  permit,  which 
was  very  valuable,  as  it  gained  them  access  to  Canton, 
China,  which  was  closed  to  all  foreigners  save  the  vessels 
of  the  East  India  Company.  The  terms  of  this  bargain 
was  that  each  should  participate  equally  in  the  profits 
of  the  voyage,  and  Aster's  share  was  several  barrels  of 
milled  dollars,  the  total  profit  being  about  $110,000. 

He  after  this  bought  ships  of  his  own,  and  shipped 
his  own  merchandise  to  the  East,  bringing  back  cargoes 


OUR  country's   wealth,  akd  who  possess  it.      87 

to  be  sold  in  the  new  world.  The  Government  at  Wash- 
ington approved  of  Aster's  proposition  to  get  possession 
of  the  fur  business  of  the  Interior,  controlled  at  that 
time  by  British  companies.  He  succeeded  in  raising  a 
corporation  with  $1,000,000  capital,  and  within  a  few 
years  Mr.  Astor  controlled  the  fur  interests  of  the 
country.  This  was  back  in  Jefferson's  time  when  the 
city  of  New  York  was  a  small  village.  Astor,  with  that 
keen  foresight  which  marked  his  life's  history,  had  been 
buying  land  on  Staten  Island,  and  the  marvelous  growth 
of  the  city  brought  the  price  of  his  possessions  up  to 
fabulous  amounts,  and  the  latter  part  of  his  life  his 
whole  attention  was  occupied  in  taking  care  of  his  great 
blocks  of  real  estate. 

While  other  merchants  went  to  their  desks  at  nine, 
Astor  could  always  be  seen  there  at  prompt  seven.  He 
early  in  life,  before  leaving  his  old  home  on  the  Rhine, 
resolved  to  be  honest,  to  be  industrious,  and  to  avoid 
gambling.  Upon  this  solid  moral  basis  he  built  the 
superstructure  of  his  fame  and  secured  his  great  wealth. 

The  one  great  act  of  John  Jacob  Aster's  life,  which 
must  forever  keep  the  name  of  Astor  before  the  people, 
is  the  establishment  of  the  Astor  Library  by  donating 
for  that  purpose  $400,000,  to  which  have  been  added 
large  contributions  by  his  son  William  B.,  to  whom  the 
elder  Astor  left  about  $20,000,000.  The  library  contains 
about  two  hundred  thousand  volumes,  the  catalogue  alone 
contains  two  thousand  five  hundred  pages  alphabetically 
arrranged.  The  Asters  are  the  principal  real  estate 
owners  of  America. 


88  HIDDEN    TREASURES. 


Potter  Palmer, 


A  HOTEL  that  has  averaged  five  hundred  and  fifty 
daily  arrivals  for  a  dozen  years.  This  naturally 
awakens  interest ;  where  is  it  ?  Who  built  it  ?  How  does 
it  look  ?  In  answer,  we  speak  of  the  Palmer  House,  of 
Chicago,  the  Talace  Hotel  of  America,'  built  by  Potter 
Palmer.  The  building  is  as  nearly  fire-proof  as  any 
building  can  be  made,  and  is  swarming  Avith  servants. 

You  are  accommodated  with  a  room  which  satisfies 
your  desires  financially  ;  and  upon  entering  the  dining- 
room  you  can  choose  between  the  American  and  Euro- 
pean plans.  This  hotel  is,  indeed,  first-class  in  every 
respect.  It  certainly  enjoys  the  widest  reputation  as 
suchof  any  on  the  continent,  and  is  undoubtedly  the  finest 
hotel  in  America,  save  possibly  the  Palace  Hotel,  in  San- 
Francisco,  which  is  a  rival  in  magnificence. 

Mr.  Palmer  was  born  near  Albany,  New  York,  where 
he  worked  summers  among  the  farmers  as  a  day-laborer, 
and  attended  the  district  school  winters.  This  kind  of 
life  was  maintained  until  he  was  nearly  nineteen  years 
of  age  when  he  entered  a  store  at  Durham,  New  York, 
as  a  clerk.  Here  he  allowed  nothing  to  escape  his  at- 
tention and,  by  industry,  coupled  with  frugality,  he  was 
enabled  to  enter  a  business  on  his  own  account  when 
twenty-one.  Mr.  Palmer,  like  all  other  young  men  who 
have  risen  from  poverty  to  afiiuence,  was  constantly  alive 
to  the  problems  of  the  day;  especially  did  the  subject  of 
this  narrative  watch  the  indications  of  progress  in  his 
native  country. 


OUR  country's  wealth,  and  who  possess  it.       89 

Being  filled  with  the  idea  that  Chicago  was  to  be  the 
city  of  America,  he  in  1852  moved  ^West'  to  that  city. 
Here  he  opened  a  dry-goods  business  which  grew  to  mam- 
moth proportions  for  those  days.  After  fourteen  years 
of  successful  trade  he  retired,  investing  heavily  in  real 
estate.  When  the  great  fire  came  much  of  his  vast  gains 
were  swept  away,  but  with  that  indomitable  will  and 
<50urage  which  has  always  characterized  his  efforts,  he 
succeeded  in  forming  a  company  which  successfully 
brought  to  completion  the  magificent  hotel  before  men- 
tioned. Probably  no  man  has  been  more  closely  identi- 
fied with  the  project  of  improving  the  streets  of  Chicago. 

When  Palmer  first  entered  the  city  he  found  it  situ- 
ated in  a  slough.  It  was  generally  supposed  that  the 
ground  upon  which  the  city  was  built  was  a  natural 
swamj),  and  when  Palmer,  among  others,  advocated  the 
idea  of  raising  the  streets  they  were  ridiculed.  But  sub- 
sequent tests  proved  that  beneath  the  surface  there  was 
a  solid  rock  bottom,  therefore  it  was  impossible  for  the 
water  to  leach  through.  When  this  was  an  established 
fact,  and  therefore  the  grumblers  were  deprived  of  this 
excuse,  the  cry  was  raised  that  the  city  could  not  af- 
ford it.  Against  all  obstacles  the  measure  was  carried, 
however,  and  State  Street  was  widened,  making  it  one  of 
the  grandest  and  most  'stately' streets  among  any  that 
can  be  found  in  any  city  on  the  entire  globe.  Indeed,  it 
IS  difficult  to  estimate  the  possible  benefit  Chicago  may 
have  derived,  directly  or  indirectly,  through  the  influence 
of  Potter  Palmer. 


90  HIDDEN    TREASURES. 


James  Harper, 


In  a  treatise  on  the  Harpers,  their  life  and  character^ 
the  history  of  James  is  the  history  of  the  firm.  This 
firm  consisted  of  James,  John,  Joseph,  Wesley  and 
Fletcher ;  James,  as  the  eldest,  laying  the  foundation  of 
that  powerful  concern,  Harper  Brothers,  which  is  the 
largest  and  wealthiest  publishing  house  in  America. 

James  Harper  was  born  April  11.  1795.  Like  many 
other  ]30or  boys  who  have  become  wealthy  he  was  the 
son  of  a  farmer.  He  early  determined  to  become  a 
printer  and,  in  1810,  was  apprenticed  to  Messrs.  Paul  & 
Thomas  of  the  city  of  New  York.  He  left  home  to  as- 
sume this  position,  the  prayers  of  his  parents  following 
him.  The  last  words  of  his  mother  bade  him  remember 
that  there  was  good  blood  in  him.  The  printer  boy  in 
those  days  was  made  a  sort  of  lackey  to  be  ordered  about 
by  all  hands.  Among  other  duties  he  had  to  clean  the 
rollers  when  they  became  clogged  with  ink.  The  ink 
would  get  on  his  hands  and  apron,  and  thence  it  would 
reach  his  face — thus  the  printer  boy  with  his  blackened 
face  earned  the  sobriquet  of  Sprinter's  devil.'  James 
Harper  became  the  ^  devil '  in  this  office.  There  is  little 
doubt  but  that  he  often  felt  discouraged  and  disposed  to 
give  up,  but  he  regarded  this  position  as  only  a  step- 
t)ing  stone  to  something  higher  and  pleasanter.  It  was 
oon  observed  that  such  was  the  case ;  that  James  Harpei 
fully  expected  to  one  day  rise  to  be  himself  proprietor ; 
even  the  street  Arabs  recognizing  that  he  aspired  to 


OUR  country's   wealth,  and  who  possess  it.       91 

higher  things.  One  day  as  he  was  passing  along  the 
street  an  audacious  news-boy  came  up  to  him  and  gave 
him  a  push,  while  another  sneeringly  asked  him  for  his 
card.  Seizing  the  latter  by  the  shoulder  he  fairly  kicked 
the  astonished  ruffian  half  across  the  square.  "  There/' 
said  he,  ''is  my  card,  keep  it  and  when  you  want  work 
come  to  me,  present  that  card,  and  I  will  give  you  work." 
This  ended  all  further  molestation  from  this  source. 

His  brother  John  came  to  New  York  in  the  course  of 
a  little  more  than  a  year  and  entered  another  office,  ar- 
ranging his  apprenticeship  so  that  it  might  end  about 
the  same  time  as  did  that  of  his  brother  James.  In  time 
James  became  one  of  the  leading  pressmen  in  the  city, 
and  John  was  one  of  the  best  compositors  and  proof 
readers  in  the  country.  All  through  their  long  appren- 
ticeship they  had  worked  evenings;  the  surplus  thus  ac- 
quired and  not  one  cent  of  their  day  earnings  ever  went 
for  drink,  as  was  so  common  in  those  days.  To  be  temper- 
ate in  Harper's  day  required  far  more  exertion  than  it 
would  at  present,  as  nearly  everyone  drank  then.  So 
while  others  spent  their  evenings  in  saloons  drinking, 
playing  pool  and  billiards,  and  'having  lun,'  these 
young  Harpers  were  either  hard  at  work  putting  in  extra 
time,  or  at  home,  thus  if  they  did  not  earn  more  they 
saved  what  they  had  already  earned. 

When  their  time  was  out  they  each  had  a  few 
hundred  dollars,  and  they  began  business  for  themselves 
under  the  firm-style  of  J.  &  J.  Harper.  They  felt  their 
way,  at  first  publishing  books  only  for  others.  They 
were  industrious,  no  hand  in  their  employ  working 
harder  than  the  proprietors.  Not  only  were  they 
workers,  but  they  were  enterprising.  When  it  was  found 
that  the  stereotyping  consumed  much  of  their  profit^ 
they  resolved  to  learn  that  art  and  add  it  to  their  busi- 


"92  HIDDEN   TREASURES. 

ness.  This  was  no  small  undertaking ;  those  already  in 
the  business  were  not  anxious  to  set  up  a  rival,  as  they 
felt  these  young  men  sure  to  become,  but  after  much 
trial  and  vexation  the  Harpers  learned  the  art,  and  were 
therefore  better  able  to  carry  on  their  rapidly  increasing 
business.  When  they  had  fully  become  established  they 
ventured  out  upon  a  publication  of  their  own.  They 
put  out  but  five  hundred  for  the  first  edition,  taking 
orders  in  advance  from  the  booksellers  about  town.  The 
two  other  brothers  were  apprenticed  to  the  firm  of  J.  & 
J.  Harper  and,  as  soon  as  their  time  was  out,  were  taken 
into  the  firm. 

In  1825  the  firm-style  was  changed  to  Harper  & 
Brothers.  One  of  their  business  maxims  was,  ^'Mutual 
confidence,  industry  and  application  to  business."  This 
made  the  four  one  man.  They  ranked  as  equals  in  all 
things,  and  the  history  of  James  Harper  is  the  history  of 
Harper  &  Brothers.  James  being  the  eldest  was  once 
asked,  "Which  is  Harper  and  which  the  brothers  ?"  He 
answered,  *' Either  is  Harx3er,  the  others  are  the  brothers." 
This  was  precisely  the  relation  they  bore  toward  each 
other.  In  1853  a  workman  threw  a  lighted  paper  into  a 
tank  of  benzine  which  he  mistook  for  water,  and  prop- 
erty valued  at  $1,000,000  was  destroyed;  as  their  insur- 
ance amounted  to  only  about  $250,000  their  loss  was 
great.  This  was  a  terrible  blow,  but  the  next  day  they 
hired  temporary  quarters,  and  the  debris  was  hardly 
cleared  away  ere  they  had  bought  the  ground  on  which 
to  erect  the  splendid  building  they  have  since  occupied. 
It  is  a  most  imposing  structure,  and  is  probably  the 
most  commodious,  and  finest  building  in  which  to  carry 
on  a  general  book  business,  in  all  its  branches,  in  the 
world  ;  every  operation  required  to  produce  and  publish 


OUR   COUNTRY'S    WEALTH,    AND    WHO   POSSESS   IT.         ^^6 

a  book  being  carried  on  under  one  roof.  The  building 
is  absolutely  fire-proof,  and  is  seven  stories  high.  Un- 
derneath are  long  vaults  in  which  their  plates  are  stored. 

In  1844  James  was  elected  Mayor  of  the  great  city  of 
New  York.  Mr.  Harper  was  a  man  of  unusual  ability, 
this  was  recognized  by  his  friends  and  towns  people,  but 
he  was  at  the  head  of  the  largest  publishing  business  in 
the  country,  and  was  loth  to  leave  it,  therefore  he  re- 
fused to  be  a  candidate  for  Governor.  He  was  always 
full  of  mirth  and  running  over  with  good  humor,  but  he 
was  business,  morning,  noon  and  night.  He  remained 
actively  engaged  in  business  until  he  was  nearly  seventy- 
five  years  of  age,  in  fact  he  was  still  in  business  ana  enjoy- 
ing good  health  when  he  met  an  untimely  death,  caused 
by  his  horses  running  away  in  Central  Park,  throwing 
him  to  the  ground  and  injuring  him  so  badly  that  he 
died  within  forty-eight  hours. 

He  was  a  devout  Methodist,  and  a  class-leader,  but 
used  some  of  the  Episcopal  forms.  He  was  a  worthy 
example  for  our  youth  to  imitate  in  business  or  religious 
matters. 


Henry  Disston. 


IN  Tewksbury,  England,  May  24th,  1819,  was  born  a 
little  boy  who  was  destined  to  become  one  of  the  lead- 
ing manufacturers  of  the  nineteenth  century.  At  four- 
teen he  came  to  America  with  his  father,  who  died  three 


94  niDDEN    TREASURES. 

days  after  their  arrival  here.  A  poor,  homeless  ori^han, 
in  a  strange  land — ah !  it  takes  courage  to  rise  from  such 
a  beginning.  There  is  little*  luck'  in  the  life  of  such 
boys  who  become  wealthy.    The  poet  says : 

"The  fading  flowers  of  pleasures 

Spring  spontaneous  from  the  soil, 
But  the  real  harvest's  treasure 

Yields  alone  to  patient  toil." 

Whether  these  lines  ever  caught  the  eye  of  Henr}'- 
Disston  or  no,  we  are  not  able  to  say ;  certain  it  is,  how- 
ever, that  he  concurred  in  that  belief,  for  so  hard  did  he 
work,  and  so  closely  did  he  study  the  business,  that  he 
was  made  foreman  when  he  was  but  eighteen. 

When  his  seven  long  years  of  apprenticeship  was  up 
he  arranged  with  his  employer  to  take  his  wages  in  tools. 
With  scarcely  any  money,  he  wheeled  a  barrow  load  of 
coal  to  his  cellar  where  he  began  to  make  saws.  Saws 
of  American  manufacture,  were  at  that  time  held  in 
poor  esteem,  and  he  had  a  great  public  prejudice  to  over- 
come. But  Henry  Disston  determined  to  show  people 
that  he  could  compete  with  foreign  goods,  and  to  do  this 
he  sometimes  sold  goods  at  an  advance  of  only  one  per 
cent.  He  moved  to  a  small  room  twenty  feet  square,  at 
the  corner  of  Front  and  Laurel  streets ;  this  was  in  1846. 
In  1849  he  was  burned  out,  and  before  he  rebuilt  he  ob- 
tained control  of  additional  land  adjoining  that  which  he 
had  occupied,  and  here  built  a  new  factory.  Now  he  be- 
gan to  reap  the  reward  of  his  early  toil  and  study.  He 
was  enterprising,  like  all  successful  men,  and  his  invent- 
ive genius  soon  enabled  him  to  get  up  new  designs  for 
teeth  to  do  different  kinds  of  work.  He  never  allowed 
a  poor  tool,  or  an  imperfect  one,  to  be  shipped  from  his 
factory.  Consequently  a  market  once  gained  was  easily 
kept.    His  enterprise  induced  him  to  add  a  file  works  to 


OUR   COUNTRY^  S    WEALTH,    AND    WHO    POSSESS   IT.         95 

his  already  large  business ;  in  fact,  the  Keystone  Saw 
Works  made  a  splendid  exhibit  at  the  Centennial,  show- 
ing all  kinds  of  tools  made  from  steel.  His  works  cover 
hundreds  of  acres  of  land,  and  employ  over  fifteen 
hundred  hands,  while  the  business  extends  all  over  the 
world. 

In  March,  1878,  this  great  manufacturer  died  in  Phil- 
adelphia. He  was  a  very  common  man — great  wealth 
did  not  spoil  him,  and  he  could  perform  with  his  own 
h^nds  any  part  of  the  work  in  his  immense  establish- 
ment. This  ability  to  work  thorough  mastery  of  the 
business,  which  had  taken  years  of  patient  thought  to 
develop,  brought  about  his  splendid  success. 


Peter  Cooper 


WHO,  indeed,  is  there  who  has  not  heard  of  Peter 
Cooper  ?  He  was  born  in  the  city  of  New  York 
in  1791.  His  father  was  a  man  who  possessed  some 
ability,  but  was  so  inconstant  that  the  poor  boy  received 
only  about  six  months'  schooling,  and  he  received  that 
before  he  was  eight  years  old. 

Reader,  think  of  it;  can  you  make  yourself  believe 
that  his  great  riches  came  through  'good  luck'?  we  will 
see :  His  father,  being  a  hatter,  little  Peter  was  early 
employed  pulling  the  hair  off  the  rabbit  skins  to  obtain 
material  with  which  to  make  the  hats.  In  the  course 
of  time  his  father  moved  to  Peekskill,  and  at  seventeen 


96  HIDDEN   TREASURES.  ' 

Peter  resolved  to  strike  out  into  the  world  for  himself. 
He  returned  to  his  native  city  and  apprenticed  himself 
to  the  firm  of  Burtis  &  Woodward.  Here  he  remained 
four  years  where  he  acquired  a  thorough  mastery  of  the- 
coach-making  trade.  In  addition  to  his  board  he  re- 
ceived during  his  apprenticeship  the  sum  of  twenty-five 
dollars  per  year  with  which  to  clothe  himself.  Although 
he  had  spent  four  long  years  learning  the  trade  of  coach- 
making  he,  for  some  reason,  determined  not  to  make 
that  his  calling  for  life.  Accordingly  he  went  to  Hemp- 
stead, Long  Island,  and  there  he  met  a  party  who  was 
manufacturing  a  patent  shears  for  shearing  cloth.  To- 
this  man  he  engaged  himself  at  $1.50  per  day,  where  he 
remained  until  the  business  became  unremunerative,  a 
period  of  three  years.  He  next  turned  his  attention  to 
the  business  of  making  and  selling  cabinet  furniture  ; 
at  the  end  of  a  year  he  sold  out  this  business,  and  with 
his  family  returned  to  New  York  city. 

He  now  entered  the  grocery  business  and  the  next 
year,  seeing  his  opportunity,  leased  for  a  period  of  nine- 
teen years  a  piece  of  land  containing  a  few  buildings. 
He  now  moved  his  grocery  business  into  one  of  these 
buildings,  subletting  the  others  at  a  profit.  His  eyes 
were  kept  open,  and  he  never  let  an  opportunity  slip  by 
to  turn  an  honest  penny.  There  was  a  glue  factory  situ- 
ated not  far  from  his  present  location.  True,  it  had 
never  paid,  and  that  seemed  to  be  reason  enough  for  all 
others,  but  Cooper  made  a  study  of  the  glue  business. 
He  satisfied  himself  that  he  could  make  it  pay ;  he 
thought  he  could  see  where  the  trouble  was  with  the 
present  proprietor,  and  he  bought  it  out,  paying  two 
thousand  dollars,  cash  down,  for  it.  By  a  progressive 
study  of  this  new  business  he  soon  produced  a  better 
6 


OUR  country's  wealth,  and  who  possess  it.      97 

article  than  was  made  by  others,  and  so  materially  re- 
auced  the  price  as  to  drive  out  foreign  competition  from 
the  American  markets.  Of  course,  he  made  money,  and 
when  he  saw  that  we  paid  Russia  four  dollars  per  pound 
for  isinglass,  he  studied  up  on  the  manufacture  of  the 
same,  and  added  that  article  to  his  business,  and 
soon  was  enabled  to  sell  it  at  less  th^.A  one  dollar 
A  pound.  It  is  needless  to  say  that  he  succeeded  m 
completely  monopolizing  the  isinglass  industry  for  a 
long  time,  and  his  profit  on  that  one  article  would  nave 
made  him  a  very  rich  man. 

Mr.  Cooper  was  an  observing  man ;  he  saw  and  real- 
ized that  our  country  was  rich  in  mineral  resources ;  es- 
pecially was  his  attention  drawn  toward  the  iron  deposits 
in  Pennsylvania  and  neighboring  States.  He  felt  that 
there  was  big  money  in  that  business  for  the  man  who 
early  entered  the  field ;  he  felt  that  there  would  be 
money  in  it  for  Peter  Cooper.  These  feelings  made  him 
an  easy  victim  to  two  sharpers  who  one  morning  entered 
his  premises  and  succeeded  in  getting  him  to  invest 
$150,000  in  a  large  tract  of  land,  in  Maryland,  of  some 
three  thousand  acres.  He  was  told  that  this  land  was  on 
a  ^boom,'  as  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railway,  it  was  ru- 
mored, would  soon  be  completed.  The  steep  grades, 
however,  and  sharp  curves,  made  it  impossible  for  en- 
gines then  known  to  make  the  road  in  safety.  Indeed, 
it  seemed  that  his  land  speculation  was  destined  to  prove 
a  *  White  Elephant'  on  his  hands,  and,  with  nine  out  of 
ten  men  it  would  have  so  proved,  as  they  would  have  given 
up  right  here.  Mr.  Cooper  set  about  this  problem  re- 
solved to  solve  it.  He  soon  saw  that  the  success  of  the 
Baltimore  and  Ohio  was  the  success  of  his  speculation. 
The  only  thing  needed  to  bring  this  success  was  an  en- 


yS  HIDDEN   TREASURES. 

gine  that  could  ascend  the  grades  and  turn  the  curves 
in  safety. 

He  set  to  work  patiently,  and  succeeded  in  inventing 
an  engine  that  would  do  what  was  required  of  it,  he, 
himself  acting  as  engineer  on  its  trial  trip.  This  and 
other  favorable  influences  which  were  brought  about 
through  the  success  of  the  railroad,  ^boomed'  his  land  in 
dead  earnest  this  time.  He  next  established  an  iron 
furnace  on  the  site  of  his  land  and  burned  the  wood  for 
charcoal.  The  land  went  on  up,  and  when  it  reached 
two  hundred  and  thirty  dollars  per  acre  he  sold  out  at 
an  immense  profit.  He  still  continued  in  the  iron  busi- 
ness, and  as  he  was  always  studying  his  business,  he  was 
the  first  man  to  roll  out  iron  beams  for  fire-proof  build- 
ings. His  iron  industries  spread  all  over  Pennsylvania, 
and  the  business  is  to-day  carried  on  by  his  successors. 
As  is  well-known,  he  was  one  of  the  warm  supporters  of 
Cyrus  W.  Field  from  first  to  last,  extending  his  aid  and 
sympathy.  When  the  Bank  of  New  Foundland  refused  t# 
honor  the  Cable  Company's  paper  Peter  Cooper  advanced 
the  much  needed  funds.  While  all  this  business  was  on 
his  mind  his  glue  and  isinglass  industry  was  not  in  the 
least  neglected.  He  had  removed  the  worlds  to  Long 
Island,  where  it  assumed  mammoth  proportions.  The 
profits  of  this  giant  combination  of  business  poured  the 
money  into  his  pockets  in  large  streams. 

One  feature  of  the  great  success  of  Peter  Cooper  was 
he  always  paid  cash.  But  the  great  life-work  of  Peter 
Cooper  is  embellished  with  one  gem  that  is  perpetually 
bright.  We  speak  of  Cooper  Union.  In  1854  the  ground 
was  cleared,  the  plans  made  and  the  work  begun.  This 
institution  cost  Cooper  about  eight  hundred  thousand 
dollars.    It  is  deeded  as  a  trust,  with  all  its  rents  and 


OUR  country's   wealth,  and  who  possess  it.      9t 

profits,  to  the  instruction  and  profit  of  the  poor  working 
people  of  New  York  city.  Mr.  Cooper  himself  thus  de- 
scribes his  motives:  "The  great  object  that  I  desire  to 
accomplish  by  the  erection  of  this  institution  is  to  open 
the  avenues  of  scientific  knowledge  to  the  youth  of  our 
city  and  country,  and  so  unfold  the  volume  of  nature 
that  the  youth  may  see  the  beauties  of  creation,  enjoy 
its  blessings  and  learn  to  love  the  Author  from  whom 
Cometh  every  good  and  perfect  gift."  Could  any  senti- 
ment be  more  beautiful  ?  Could  any  motive  be  more 
worthy  of  imitation  than  this  ? 

He  was  a  Democrat  and  a  member  of  Tammany  Hall, 
but  toward  the  latter  part  of  his  life  he  became  a  leader 
of  the  Greenback  party,  being  a  candidate  for  President 
on  that  ticket.  He  had  good  habits  and  was  always  oc- 
cupied with  business.  Two  children  are  living,  Edward, 
and  a  daughter  w^ho  married  Mr.  A.  S.  Hewitt.  The  son 
and  son-in-law  have  each  been  mayor  of  their  city. 
There  was  great  mourning  in  New  York  city  on  April 
4th,  1883,  when  it  was  learned  that  Peter  Cooper  was 
dead.  But  man  liveth  not  to  himself,  his  memory  and 
influence  will  be  felt  by  the  countless  generations  which 
will  follow  after  his  death.  Certain  it  is*  those  who  ar« 
benefited  by  the  aid  of  "Cooper  Union '^  will  not  forget 
their  benefactor. 


^^ There  is  a  wide  difference  hehveen  meriy  hut  trulij  it  liev 
less  in  some  special  gift  or  opportunity  vouchsafed  to  one  and 
withheld  from  another, — less  in  that  than  hi  the  differing 
degree  in  which  these  common  elements  of  human  power  are 
owned  and  used.  Not  hotv  much  talent  have  I,  but  how  much 
will  to  use  the  tale?it  that  I  have,  is  the  maiti  question.  Not 
how  much  do  I  know,  but  how  much  do  I  do  with  what  1 
know  ?  " 


100 


i<^4m 


'^ 


IL. 


ON  October  25th,  1806,  in  a  an  humble  farmer's  home, 
was  born  a  boy ;  that  boy  was  George  Law.  For 
eighteen  summers  he  lived  contentedly  on  his  father's 
farm,  but  a  stray  volume,  containing  a  story  of  a  cer- 
tain farmer  boy  who  left  home  to  seek  his  fortune,  and 
after  years  of  struggle  returned  rich,  caught  his  eye,  and 
young  Law  determined  to  go  and  do  likewise.  His  edu- 
cation was  meager,  but  he  had  mastered  DabolFs 
Arithmetic. 

Having  decided  that  he  could  not  follow  the  occupa- 
tion of  his  father,  he  set  at  work  to  raise  the  amount  he 
deemed  necessary  to  carry  him  to  success.  By  exercis- 
ing great  frugality  in  his  already  simple  mode  of  living, 
he  managed  to  save  forty  dollars,  and  at  the  age  of 
101 


102  HIDDEN   TREASURES. 

eighteen  he  set  out  on  foot  for  Troy,  New  York,  thirty- 
six  miles  distant.  Putting  up  at  the  cheapest  hotel  he 
could  find,  he  immediately  went  out  in  search  of  employ- 
ment, which  he  soon  found,  beginning  as  a  hod-carrier. 
He  next  obtained  employment  as  a  helper,  laying  brick 
and  ^picking  up  points,'  soon  obtained  employment  as  a 
mason  at  $1.75  per  day. 

But  George  Law  did  not  mean  to  always  be  a  day- 
laborer,  he  observed  everything  closely,  and  books  were 
freely  bought  that  would  help  him  to  a  better  under- 
standing of  his  business.  Seven  long  years  of  day-labor- 
ing, then  he  became  a  sub-contractor,  then  a  contractor. 
His  first  efforts  in  this  capacity  was  building  bridges  in  va- 
rious parts  of  Pennsylvania  and  although  it  has  been  said 
that  he  could  not  spell  correctly  any  word  in  the  English 
language,  of  three  syllables,  yet,  so  carefully  were  his 
plans  laid  that  on  every  contract  that  he  took  he  cleared 
money.  He  put  in  a  bid  for  three  sections  of  the  Cro- 
ton  Aqueduct,  and  succeeded  in  obtaining  the  work  on  two 
of  them.  High  Bridge  was  afterwards  awarded  to  him, 
among  a  host  of  comiDetitors,  and  was  completed  in  ten 
years'  time  from  its  beginning.  These  two  contracts 
alone  had  made  him  a  millionaire,  but  his  active  mind 
could  not  rest. 

He  first  turned  his  attention  to  bank  stocks.  Next 
he  became  interested  in  the  horse  railway  system  of  New 
York  city.  He  bought  the  Staten  Island  Ferry,  run  it 
five  years,  and  sold  out.  He  was  also  much  interested  in 
steam  ships.  Nearly  all  these  ventures  proved  profita- 
ble, and  at  his  death  his  estate  amounted  to  about  $15,- 
000,000.  He  was  a  giant  in  size,  being  over  six  feet  tall, 
and  his  mind  compared  favorably  with  his  stature.  His 
whole  energies  were  concentrated  on  money-getting  and, 


SUCCESSFUL  BANKERS,  AND,  HOW  THEY  EARNED  SUCCESS.    103 

^of  course,  he  succeeded.  It  has  been  said  that  he  walked 
until  he  could  ride,  and  lived  humbly  until  his  wealth 
would  more  than  warrant  his  living  on  Fifth  Avienue. 
He  carried  the  hod  until  he  found  better  work,  and  never 
left  one  position  until  he  had  found  a  better  one,  no 
matter  what  his  real  or  supposed  provocation  might  be. 
He  lived  to  return  home,  as  did  the  boy  of  whom  he 
early  read,  and  established  his  father  comfortably  on  a 
farm  which  he  had  bought  for  him. 


Darius  0,  Mills. 


IN  Westchester  county,  New  York,  was  bom  one 
bright  September  day,  in  1825,  Darius  0.  Mills. 
True,  it  is,  that  his  parents  were  somewhat  well-to-do 
people,  but  Darius  0.  Mills  would  have  become  a 
wealthy  man  had  he  been  born  in  poverty. 

If  a  man  determines  to  succeed  and  has  a  perceptive 
mind  to  see  opportunities,  if  he  relies  on  no  one  but  him- 
self, and  follows  this  up  by  hard,  persistent  work,  he 
will  succeed.  If  he  does  not  he  is  lacking  in  some  other 
vital  point,  but  we  have  never  yet  read  the  life  of  any 
man  who  possessed  these  qualities  but  that  he  was  a 
success.  What  one  has  done  another  can  do  under  the 
same  conditions  and  circumstances.  For  some  time  he 
was  casting  about  to  find  his  calling,  and  finally  deter- 
mined to  become  a  banker.  In  this  sphere  he  has 
proven  himself  a  phenomenon.     His  talent  for  money- 


104  HIDDEN    TREASURES. 

making  was  early  apparent,  and  he  was  appointed 
cashier  of  a  bank  in  Buffalo  when  only  twenty-one. 
Now  it  must  not  be  imagined  that  Darius  0.  Mills  was 
picked  up  indiscriminately  and  placed  in  so  responsible 
a  position.  Things  do  not  come  by  chance.  It  is  evident 
the  case  under  consideration  did  not  happen  through 
'good  luck.'  He  was  a  young  man  of  unusual  ability,  of 
which  he  has  always  made  the  most.  The  bank  flour- 
ished and  at  twenty-three  he  resigned  and,  taking  what 
money  he  had,  he  was  soon  on  his  way  to  California. 
He  did  not  go  there  to  dig  gold.  Darius  0.  Mills  knew 
that  gold  was  the  object  of  nearly  every  one  who  went ; 
he  also  knew  that  the  people  must  live ;  he  perceived 
the  chance  to  make  a  fortune  as  a  merchant.  Like  any 
man  who  will  succeed,  he  acted  at  once.  In  1849  he 
settled  in  San  Francisco,  opening  trade  with  the  miners. 

In  the  course  of  a  few  years  he  became  immensely 
rich  through  very  successful  trade  and,  as  he  was  about 
to  retire  from  active  business,  the  Bank  of  California 
was  projected.  This  he  materially  aided  into  existence, 
and  as  he  was  recognized  as  one  of  the  ablest  financiers 
in  the  city,  he  was  chosen  its  first  President.  So  well 
did  he  manage  its  affairs  that  it  soon  became  the  leading 
banking  institution  in  the  country,  wielding  an  immense 
power  in  the  financial  world.  He  remained  at  its  head 
for  nine  years  when  his  private  fortune  had  assumed 
such  mammoth  proportions  that  it  demanded  his  im- 
mediate attention,  he  therefore  resigned  in  1873. 

In  1875  his  successor,  William  Gr.  Ralston,  was  asked 
to  resign  and  the  bank  suspended.  Mr.  Ralston  was  a 
splendid  man,  but  had  been  somewhat  unwise  in  placing 
the  bank's  money,  and  thus  the  failure  was  brought 
about.     At  a  meeting  of  the  directors  it  was  decided  to 


SUCCESSFUL  BANKERS,  AND  HOW  THEY  EARNED  SUCCESS.    105 

ask  for  the  resignation  of  the  President.  Mr.  Mills  was 
the  person  selected  to  convey  the  intelligence  of  the 
result  of  the  meeting  to  Mr.  Kalston  and  this  he  did. 
Mr.  Mills,  much  against  his  personal  desire,  once  more 
assumed  the  presidency  of  the  bank,  and  after  three 
years  he  once  more  resigned  to  attend  to  his  private 
affairs;  leaving  the  bank  in  a  flourishing  condition. 
Possibly  no  man  in  America  is  better  capable  of  hand- 
ling large  sums  of  money,  to  bring  not  only  large  returns, 
but  to  handle  the  money  safely. 

In  1880  he  turned  his  attention  toward  the  East, 
moving  his  family  to  Fifth  Avenue,  New  York  city. 
His  large  business  block,  the  Mills  Building,  ten  stories 
high,  fitted  up  for  offices  containing  three  hundred  in 
all,  is  a  magnificent  structure.  His  wealth  is  very  great, 
being  estimated  at  from  fifteen  to  twenty  millions  of 
dollars.  He  has  established  on  the  Pacific  slope,  at  a 
cost  of  about  two  hundred  thousand  dollars,  a .  seminary 
for  young  ladies. 

He  has  also  presented  a  beautiful  piece  of  statuary  to 
the  State  of  California.  It  is  a  magnificent  gift,  repre- 
senting Columbus  at  the  court  of  Isabella.  He  has  given 
numerous  costly  presents  to  institutions  and  relatives. 
Among  the  shrewd  far-sighted  men  of  the  country  few 
are  more  distinguished  than  is  Darius  Ogdon  Mills. 


106  HIDDEN    TREASURES. 


Stephen  Girard. 


STEPHEN  GIRARD  was  born  in  Bordeaux,  France, 
May  24tli,  1750.  He  lived  in  an  age  when  avenues  of 
business  were  utilized  by  the  rich.  A  poor  boy  had  little 
chance  of  being  other  than  a  poor  man.  Not  only  was 
the  subject  of  this  sketch  born  to  poverty,  but  he  also 
inherited  a  deformity  which  made  him  the  butt  of  ridi- 
cule among  his  vulgar  companions.  His  childhood  was 
made  up  of  neglect  which  developed  a  cold,  distant  na- 
ture. He  is  generally  described  as  a  loveless  old  man, 
but  his  biographers  seem  to  forget  the  influences  that 
surrounded  his  childhood.  Such  were  the  opportunities 
enjoyed  by  Girard ;  such  the  chance  offered  to  him,  but 
he  held  that  a  man's  best  capital  was  "  industry,"  and 
this  seemed  to  have  been  his  main  idea  to  the  last;  as  he 
willed  but  little  property  to  his  relatives,  and  but  little 
to  any  one  individual. 

He  sailed  as  cabin  boy  at  the  age  of  twelve,  and  bj 
following  a  line  of  fidelity,  industry  and  temi^erance, 
gained  the  esteem  and  confidence  of  the  captain  who 
gradually  learned  to  call  him  ''  My  Stephen,"  and  at  his 
death  placed  him  in  command  of  a  small  vessel.  He 
became  a  resident  of  Philadelphia,  and  owned  a  farm  a 
short  distance  out  of  the  city.  When  he  visited  this 
farm  he  rode  in  an  old  gig  drawn  by  a  scrawny  horse  ; 
when  he  arrived  he  fell  to  work  like  any  common  hand, 
and  labored  as  though  his  very  subsistence  depended  on 
it.     This  is  an  illustration  showing  the  secret  of  his  suo« 


SUCCESSFUL  BANKERS,  AND  HOW  THEY  EARNED  SUCCESS.    107 

cess  in  life.  He  was  familiar  with  every  detail,  in  every 
department  of  his  business;  no  matter  what  part  of  hig 
business  he  went  to  oversee  he  was  no  novice. 

With  Stephen  Girard  nothing  came  by  chance.  He 
was  a  self-taught  man,  having  but  little  education  so  far 
as  books  go;  but  in  the  great  school  of  actual  business 
he  received  a  diploma,  and  to  this  was  afterwards  added 
several  complimentary  degrees  earned  after  his  gradua- 
tion. He  never  ceased  to  be  a  progressive  man.  A  large 
range  of  stores  were  for  sale  in  the  city  of  Philadelphia 
at  a  great  sacrifice;  these  Girard  would  have  been  glad 
to  buy  but  he  lacked  sufficient  funds;  seeing  it  beyond 
his  means  to  buy  safely,  he  leased  them  for  a  term  of 
years  and  then  sublet  them  at  an  immense  profit. 

How  few  young  men  have  the  necessary  enterprise 
to  gain  for  themselves  success.  Girard  had  both  enter- 
prise and  energy;  it  is  not  at  all  surprising  that  he  suc- 
ceeded. And  this  was  not  all;  of  whatever  he  undertook 
he  had  thoroughly  mastered  the  details,  hence  was  pre- 
pared for  success  and  made  money;  that  money 
he  saved.  Ah!  that  is  three-fourths  of  the  secret. 
Most  young  men  earn  enough  but  foolishly  throw  it 
away  on  unnecessaries. 

If  Girard  owed  a  man  a  cent  he  could  rest  assured 
that  he  would  get  it;  if  a  man  owed  him  there  was  much 
trouble  in  the  way  for  that  man  if  he  attempted  to  evade 
the  payment.  He  was  just  to  all  men  and  just  to  him- 
self and  family.  There  is  another  feature  in  the  history 
of  Girard  that  is  worthy  of  imitation;  that  is  he  kept 
abreast,  yea,ahead  of  the  times, — he  made  a  study  of  the 
various  problems  of  his  day. 

He  saw  that  the  United  States  Bank  was  daily  grow- 
ing less  popular,  and  he  saw  that  it  must  go  down  in  the 


108  HIDDEN    TREASURES. 

near  future.  He  had  prospered  in  his  shipping  business, 
and  seeing  here  a  grand  opportunity  he  began  to  study 
up  on  banking  preparatory  to  taking  the  bank.  Reader, 
think  of  this  kind  of  enterprise.  His  friends  might 
think  such  a  thing  visionary ;  the  best  financier  might 
pass  the  opportunity  by,  but  this  man  knew  that  the 
United  States  Bank  had  a  vast  patronage,  and  he  also 
knew  that  the  man  who  stepped  into  its  business  would 
have  every  reason  to  expect  success.  He  at  once  set 
about  to  buy  a  controlling  interest  in  the  stock.  When 
the  bank  was  discontinued  it  was  found  that  he  had  not 
only  secured  a  controlling  interest  in  the  stock,  but  had 
gained  possession  of  the  bank  building  itself.  While  his 
friends  were  predicting  his  ruin  he  had  bought  $1,200,- 
000  worth  of  stock  and,  by  so  doing,  had  stepped  into 
the  largest  banking  business  of  the  Republic. 

Does  one  of  my  readers  for  one  moment  allow  him- 
self to  believe  that  Stephen  Girard  was  a  lucky  man  ? 
Was  it  'good  luck'  that  placed  Girard  at  one  move  at 
the  head  of  American  financiers  ?  As  is  well  known  a 
great  panic  followed  Jackson's  administration,  and,  of  a 
whole  nation,  Stephen  Girard  seems  to  have  been  the 
only  prosperous  man.  His  capital  stock  soon  became 
$4,000,000.  In  this  capacity  he  was  enabled  to  aid  his 
Government  much,  in  fact  to  save  it  from  ruin  in  the 
terrible  crash  of  1837. 

Stephen  Girard  was  bent  upon  getting  rich  and  yet, 
while  he  is  generally  regarded  as  a  cold  money-getter, 
still  he  had  a  heart,  a  tender  heart,  locked  up  within 
that  cold  exterior.  While  the  terrible  plague,  yellow 
fever,  raged  in  Philadelphia  with  a  violence  never  before 
known  in  American  history,  and  while  many  others  fled 
the  city,  Stephen  Girard  remained  and  nursed  the  dying, 


SUCCESSFUL  BANKERS,  AND  HOW  THEY  EARNED  SUCCESS.    109 

— performing  with  his  own  hands  the  most  loathesome 
duties,  and  giving  most  liberally  of  his  wealth  toward  the 
fund  for  the  suppression  of  the  disease. 

A  young  man,  who  was  a  protege  of  Girard,  was  one 
day  called  to  the  private  office  of  that  gentleman,  when 
the  following  dialogue  took  place  :  "  Well,  you  are  nov/ 
twenty-one.  and  should  begin  to  think  of  a  life-work." 
The  young  man  who  thought  perhaps  Girard  was  going 
to  set  him  up  in  some  business,  said,  "  What  would  you 
do  if  in  my  place,  Mr.  Girard  ? "  Imagine  his  astonish- 
ment when  Mr.  Girard  replied,  "I  should  learn  some 
trade."  The  young  man,  who  was  built  of  the  right 
material,  said,  ''Very  well,  I  will  learn  the  cooper's 
trade."  In  the  course  of  a  few  years  he  received  a  letter 
from  Mr.  Girard  ordering  the  best  barrel  that  he  could 
make  with  his  own  hands.  When  done  it  was  delivered. 
The  young  man  was  thunderstruck  when,  after  a 
thorough  inspection  by  Girard,  he  received  a  check  for 
$20,000;  the  reader  can  draw  the  moral. 

Time  fled,  the  26th  of  December,  1831,  came,  and  with 
it  the  death  of  this  man.  At  his  death  he  possessed 
about  $9,000,000,  not  a  large  fortune  compared  with  those 
of  the  rich  men  of  our  day,  but  a  colossal  sum  for  his 
day.  For  all  practical  purposes  it  is  just  as  great  and 
useful  as  one  hundred  millions. 

When  his  will  was  read  it  was  found  that  he  had  left 
to  the  Pennsylvania  institute  for  deaf  and  dumb,  $20,000  ; 
to  the  Orphan  Asylum  of  Philadelphia,  $10,000;  for  fuel 
for  the  poor  of  Philadelphia,  $10,000;  to  the  Philadel- 
phia Public  Schools,  $10,000;  to  the  Society  for  the  Re- 
lief of  the  Distressed  Masters  of  Ships,  $10,000;  to 
the  Masonic  Loan,  $20,000 ;  to  the  city  of  Philadelphia, 
$500,000 ;  and  to  the  State  of  Pennsylvania,  $300,000. 


110  HIDDEN    TREASURES. 

There  were  other  bequests,  the  largest  of  which  was 
$2,000,000,  with  which  to  found  a  college  for  orx)han  boys 
who  were  to  be  taken  between  the  ages  of  fourteen  and 
eighteen.  He  left  minute  directions  pertaining  to  the 
construction  and  other  details,  showing  even  at  this  time 
that  carefulness,  which  characterized  his  life's  history. 
The  main  building  is  said  to  be  the  finest  specimen  of 
Grecian  architecture  in  the  world, — it  surely  is  the  finest 
in  Amerca.  "  Contemplating  the  humility  of  his  origin, 
and  contrasting  therewith  the  variety  and  extent  of  his 
works  and  wealth,  the  mind  is  filled  with  admiration  of 
the  man." 


Moses  Taylor. 


WHAT  a  pleasure  it  is  to  read  the  lives  of  such  men 
as  Moses  Taylor.  He  began  life  as  a  clerk  and 
died  worth  $50,000,000;  but  it  is  not  alone  for  his  wealth 
that  we  take  such  an  interest  in  Moses  Taylor,  but  the 
good  he  did  with  it,  and  the  example  he  set  moneyed 
men. 

Born  in  New  York,  January  11th,  1808,  he  served  a 
clerkship  of  ten  long  years,  when  he  started  business  on  his 
own  account.  The  cholera  raged  that  year  in  that  city ; 
consequently  all  business  suffered,  many  fled  from  their 
homes  but  young  Taylor  stood  by  his  new  enterprise, 
and  even  the  first  year  cleared  some  money.  Three 
years  later  he  was  burned  out,  but  while  the  smoulder- 


•UCCESSFUL  BANKERS,  AND  HOW  THEY  EARNED  SUCCESS,    111 

ing  brands  lay  at  his  feet  he  arranged  to  erect  a  new 
building  to  stand  on  the  same  spot,  and  the  next  day 
♦pened  a  store  in  his  dwelling  house.  Of  course  such 
enterprise  would  win  in  the  end;  when  he  was  called  to 
the  presidency  of  the  city  bank  no  one  seemed  supprised,, 
for  when  a  man  has  ability  it  is  not  necessary  for  him  to 
tell  it — he  becomes  a  marked  personage.  The  success 
that  attended  his  efforts  in  this  new  capacity  is  shown 
from  the  following : 

In  the  great  panic  of  1857  a  meeting  of  the  various 
bank  presidents  was  called.  When  asked  what  percentage 
of  specie  had  been  drawn  during  the  day  some  replied 
fifty  per  cent.,  some  even  as  high  as  seventy  five  per 
cent,  but  Moses  Taylor  replied,  ^  We  had  in  the  bank  this 
morning,  $400,000 ;  this  evening,  $470,000.  "  While  other 
banks  were  badly  ^run/  the  confidence  in  the  City  Bank 
under  his  management  was  such  that  evidently  people  had 
drawn  from  other  banks  and  deposited  in  the  City  Bank. 
He  was  Treasurer  of  the  Transatlantic  Cable,  being  one  of 
its  most  ardent  sui^porters  from  1854  until  long  after  it 
had  became  established. 

He  was  a  most  conspicuous  ^  War  Democrat/  taking 
an  early  stand  as  to  the  duty  of  all  bankers.  Probably 
no  one  man,  save  possibly  JayCook,  did  more  to  sustain 
the  credit  of  the  North  in  those  trying  times  than  did 
Moses  Taylor.  He  became  interested  in  the  Dela- 
ware, Lackawanna  &  Western  railway,  and  the  mines 
in  the  coal  regions  of  Pennsylvania.  In  1873  he 
became  President  of  the  Lackawanna  Iron  and  Coal 
Co.  He  also  became  largely  interested  in  the 
Manhatten  Gas  Co.,  out  of  which  alone  he  made  a 
respectable  fortune.  When  he  died  he  left  a  very  large 
•urn  of  money  for  the  purpose  of  building  a  hospital  at 


il2  HIDDEN    TREASURES. 

Scranton.  The  need  of  this  hospital  was  \  ery  urgent,  as 
accidents  were  continually  happening  to  the  miners  in 
their  dangerous  work.  The  building  is  not  only  a  splen- 
did edifice  but  it  fills  a  long-felt  want. 

Such  a  man  was  Moses  Taylor  who  died  May  23rd, 
1882.  Few  such  men  have  we,  would  that  there  were 
more.  Moses  Taylor  was  a  practical  man,  he  cared  more 
for  business  than  for  any  amusement.  Art  was  of  far 
less  account  with  him  than  were  the  suffering  miners  who 
had  no  place  to  stretch  their  bleeding  forms  until  he 
came  to  their  aid. 


William  C.  Ralston. 


WILLIAM  C.  EALSTON,  a  synonym  for  goodness, 
was  born  at  Wellsville,  Ohio,  January  15th,  1820. 
He  drifted  to  California,  being  one  of  the  first  to  pass 
through  the  Golden  Gate.  Here  he  remained  for  twenty- 
five  years,  becoming  the  most  noted  man  in  the  State, 
having  prospered  wonderfully. 

It  has  been  truly  said  of  him  that  he  did  more  than 
any  other  one  man  to  secure  a  good  municipal  govern- 
ment for  San  Francisco.  Aiding  with  his  money  weak 
industries,  he  did  much  to  elevate  the  tone  of  a  class  of 
people  consisting  of  almost  every  nationality — the  miners. 
The  struggling  young  man  had  nothing  but  sympathy 
extended  him  from  this  great  philanthropist ;  indeed, 
his  great  desire  seemed  to  be,  what  can  I  do  for  my  less 
7 


SUCCESSFUL  BANKERS,  AND  HOW  THEY  EARNED  SUCCESS.    11^ 

fortunate  fellow-man.  He  was  elected  President  of  the 
Bank  of  California,  to  succeed  Mr.  Mills.  This  bank  had 
a  credit  all  over  the  globe.  It  was  the  greatest  financial 
power  in  the  Eepublic.  Such  was  its  standing  in  the 
financial  world  when  Mr.  Mills  delivered  the  bank 
over  to  Mr.  Ralston.  Mr.  Ralston  was  a  great  and  good 
man,  but  his  desire  to  benefit  and  aid  others  led  him  to 
place  out  the  bank's  money  too  freely ;  hence,  when  Mr. 
Flood  made  his  sudden  and  unlooked  for  call  for  over 
$5,000,000,  the  amount  of  his  deposit,  it  was  useless  for 
the  bank  to  try  to  raise  it  at  once,  as  it  could  not  be  done, 
notwithstanding  the  bank  had  ample  resources,  if  they 
had  only  been  available.  Mr.  Flood,  it  seemed  to  us, 
need  not  have  pressed  his  claim  when  he  knew  that  the 
bank  could  pay  him  soon.  It  is  claimed  by  some  that  he 
chose  this  method  to  cripple  the  Bank  of  California  to 
the  advantage  of  his  Nevada  Bank.  Be  this  as  it  may, 
Mr.  Ralston  unwisely  allowed  his  tender  heart  to  be 
touched  too  deeply,  and  thus  placed  the  bank  in  a  weak 
position  to  meet  such  a  crisis.  A  meeting  of  the  direct- 
ors was  immediately  called,  and  it  was  decided  to  ask 
the  President  for  his  resignation  which,  together  with 
his  household  effects,  he  promptly  tendered.  This  was 
a  terrible  blow  to  him,  and  it  may  be  the  officials  were 
somewhat  hasty.  On  the  27th  of  August  he  went  down 
to  the  beach,  put  on  his  bathing  suit,  drank  something 
from  a  bottle  (it  is  alleged),  dived  into  the  waves,  was 
carried  far  out  and  was  never  again  seen  alive. 

As  the  people  gazed  on  his  lifeless  body  they  began 
to  realize  what  a  loss  they  had  sustained.  Threats  of 
vengeance  were  heard  on  every  hand,  which  made  it 
seem  best  for  the  founders  of  the  rival  Nevada  Bank  to 
abstain  from  being  seen  in  their  usual  haunts.     A  pub- 


114  HIDDEN    TREASURES. 

lie  meeting  was  called,  and  long  before  the  appointed 
time  to  begin  the  business  of  the  meeting  the  public 
hall  where  it  was  held  was  packed,  and  thousands  were 
unable  to  get  in.  One  orator  addressed  those  in  the  hall 
while  the  dense  mass  outside,  who  were  unable  to  get  in, 
were  divided  and  addressed  by  two  speakers.  The  sev- 
eral charges  against  him  were  in  turn  taken  up,  and  ei- 
bher  proven  false  or  shown  to  be  justified  by  the  excited 
populace.  The  following  resolution  expressive  of  the 
irreparable  loss  the  city  had  sustained,  was  presented. 

Resolved,  "  That  in  reviewing  the  life  of  the  deceased, 
William  C.  Ralston,  we  recognize  one  of  the  first  citi- 
zens of  San  Francisco,  the  master  spirit  of  her  industries, 
the  most  bounteous  giver  to  her  charities,  the  founder  of 
her  financial  credit,  and  the  warm  supporter  of  every 
public  and  private  effort  to  augment  her  prosperity  and 
welfare.  That  to  his  sagacity,  activity,  and  enterprise, 
San  Francisco  owes  much  of  her  present  material  pros- 
perity, and  in  his  death  has  sustained  an  irreparable  loss. 
That  in  his  business  conceptions  he  was  a  giant,  in  social 
life  an  unswerving  friend,  and  in  all  the  attributes  of  his 
character  he  was  a  man  worthy  of  love  and  trust."  When 
'^All  those  in  favor  of  this  say  aye,''  was  called,  the 
answer  came  like  the  sound  of  heavy  artillery,  and  not 
a  solitary  '  N"o '  was  heard  in  that  vast  crowd. 

Rev.  T.  K.  Noble  said,  "The  aim  of  his  life  was  not  to 
pull  down  but  to  build  up.  What  enterprise  can  you 
mention  looking  to  the  betterment  of  material  interests 
in  which  he  did  not  have  part  ?  In  the  building  of  rail- 
roads, in  the  establishment  of  lines  of  steamships  to 
Australia,  to  China,  to  Japan ;  in  the  manufacture  of 
silk;  in  the  Pacific  Woolen  Mills,  the  Bay  Sugar  Re- 
finery, the  West  Coast  Furniture  Manufactory;  and  in 


SUCCESSFUL  BANKERS.  AND  HOW  THEY  EARNED  SUCCESS.    115 

those  superb  buildings,  the  Grand  and  Palace  hotels;  and 
in  many  other  enterprises  I  have  not  time  to  mention. 
Into  each  and  all  of  these  he  put  his  money  and  his 
brains."  This  was  expressive  of  much,  and  it  very 
clearly  represented  the  general  impression  of  the  people 
throughout  his  State.  He  gave  not  only  his  money,  but 
his  sympathy. 

People  of  the  East  who  know  of  him  principally  as  a 
man  of  great  wealth  cannot  conceive  an  idea  of  such  a 
man, — indeed  they  have  none  such  among  them.  He 
was  the  moral  phenomenon  of  modern  times.  The  peo- 
ple of  his  State  all  love  him,  and  there  are  those  to-day 
who  are  struggling  in  various  enterprises  who  can  look 
to  no  one  now  for  help,  who  like  to  tell  of  the  time 
*when  they  could  have  gone  to  'Frisco  and  seen  Ralston 
about  it.'  What  a  tribute  is  this;  when  we  think  of  a 
man  who  regarded  money  only  as  a  means  to  do  good, 
and  who  seemed  a  special  Providence  to  all  in  need. 
We  look  upon  this  picture  and  we  see  him  happy  only 
in  giving ;  but  we  turn  and  our  hearts  bleed  in  sympathy 
when  we  behold  him  torn  from  his  position,  the  victim 
of  avariciousness  and  envy,  which  to  all  appearance  is 
the  immediate  cause  of  his  untimely  death.  But  there 
is  another  thought  here;  he  should  have  been  very 
cautious  in  placing  money  where  it  could  not  be  brought 
into  immediate  use  in  such  an  emergency. 

Great  was  the  feeling  at  his  burial.  Three  regiments, 
cavalry,  artillery,  and  the  National  Guard,  escorted  his 
remains  to  their  last  resting  place.  After  several  years 
Mrs.  Ealston  received  back  over  $100,000,  and  is  there- 
fore comfortable.  We  shall  forever  mourn  the  death 
of  such  men,  and  ever  regard  and  cherish  their  memory 
as  among  the  dearest  in  American  history. 


116  HIDDEN   TREASURES. 


George  Peabody. 


ALONG  time  ago  a  little  boy  who  was  poorly  dressed, 
but  had  an  honest  face,  was  passing  a  country  tavern 
in  Vermont;  night  was  fast  approaching,  and  he  looked 
tired  and  hungry;  seeing  which,  the  landlord,  who  had  a 
kind  heart,  generously  offered  him  sui^xDcr  and  a  nights' 
lodging  free.  This  he  refused  to  accept,  but  said,  ^^If 
you  please,  I  will  cut  wood  enough  to  pay  my  way." 
This  was  accepted  by  the  landlord,  and  thus  the  affair 
passed.  Fifty  years  later  he  passed  the  same  tavern  as 
George  Peabody,  the  great  London  banker. 

The  above  self-reliant  nature  was  illustrative  of  the 
man.  It  is  always  interesting  to  learn  how  great  fortunes 
were  made.  Nothing  is  so  fascinating  as  success,  and 
the  momentous  question  relative  to  every  great  man  is : 
"  How  did  he  begin  ? "  George  Peabody  began  life  in 
Dan  vers,  Massachusetts,  February  18th,  1795.  He  was 
born  of  humble  parents  and  the  public  schools  of  his 
native  town  furnished  him  his  education.  At  the  age  of 
eleven  he  became  a  clerk  in  a  grocery  store  where  he  re- 
mained four  years,  when  he  went  to  Newburyport  to  be- 
come a  dry-goods  salesman.  By  cultivating  a  loving  dispo- 
sition he  gained  friends  wherever  he  went,  and,  of  course, 
thus  gained  a  confidence  which  he  otherwise  never 
would  have  known.  For  this  reason  he  gained  his  first 
letter  of  credit  which  enabled  him  to  buy  his  first  con- 
signment of  goods  without  advancing  the  money  for 
them. 


C/] 

m 


JO 

m 

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o 
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fiUOCESSFUL  BANKERS,  AND  HOW  THEY  EARNED  SUCCESS.    117 

As  we  review  the  vci/rious  groa-t  arxd  influential  men 
we  cannot  but  notice  how  many,  out  of  the  total  number, 
cultivated  a  pleasing  manner.  Certain  it  is,  to  pleasmg 
manners  and  ability  owed  lie  hh  success;  without  either 
he  could  not  have  succeeded.  V/ithout  the  generous 
heart  he  possessed  he  could  never  have  won  the  great 
honor  that  he  enjoyed,  for  great  wealth  alone  could  not 
bring  such  honor.  He  was  a  notable  moral  phenomenon. 
Of  all  the  great  and  rich  men  of  whom  we  are  aware, 
none  gave  as  liberally  as  did  he.  Eeader,  think  of  it ;  a 
poor  boy  who  became  one  of  the  greatest  bankers  of  his 
time,  and  who,  during  his  life,  gave  over  eight  millions  of 
dollars  to  charity.  Many  of  our  rich  men  have  willed 
much  to  charity,  but  he  gave  while  living. 

He  went  to  Georgetown,  District  of  Columbia,  and 
entered  into  a  partnership  with  an  uncle,  the  firm-style 
being  Kiggs  &  Peabody.  They  were  wonderfully  suc- 
cessful, and  soon  established  branches  in  Philadelphia 
and  New  York.  In  1829  Mr.  Riggs  retired  from  actual 
work,  the  firm-style  becoming  Peabody,  Riggs  &  Co. 
Time  passed  on,  the  business  grew,  and  in  1837  he  went 
to  London,  soon  after  establishing  the  banking  house  of 
George  Peabody  &  Co.  He  made  banking  his  study  and 
kept  thoroughly  posted  on  financial  matters.  At  about 
this  time  the  great  panic  occurred  in  America,  and  at  a 
great  risk  of  losing  his  fortune  he  bought  Maryland 
securities.  But  George  Peabody  knew  what  he  was  about; 
he  was  thoroughly  ]posted  and  was  capable  of  managing 
a  banking  business.  By  his  influence  with  the  Bank  of 
England,  he  soon  became  recognized  as  the  man  who 
had  saved  Maryland  from  bankruptcy. 

He  now  began  to  dispense  the  great  fortune  with 
which  God  had  so  bountifully  blessed  him.    In  1851  he 


118  HIDDEN    TREASURES. 

supplied  a  large  sum,  so  much  needed,  to  make  a  success 
of  the  great  Worlds  Fair  in  London.  In  1851  he  gave 
$10,000  toward  the  second  Grennell  expedition,  and  the 
same  year  the  people  of  his  native  town,  Dan  vers,  in- 
vited his  presence  at  an  anniversary.  He  could  not 
personally  attend,  but  sent  them  $20,000  to  be  applied 
toward  education.  In  1857  he  gave  the  city  of  Balti- 
more $300,000  to  found  a  college,  and  afterward  added 
to  this  magnificent  sum  $200,000  more.  In  1866  he 
added  still  $500,000  more,  and  later  yet  $400,000  more, 
making  $1,400,000  in  all  he  gave  to  this  one  institution, 
which  is  called  Peabody  Institute.  He  gave  nearly  $3,- 
500,000  toward  the  fund  to  educate  the  poor  of  the  South. 
He  gave  Yale  and  Harvard  college  each  $150,000;  to 
Phillips  Academy  $25,000;  to  Peabody  Academy  $140,- 
000;  to  the  Memorial  Church  in  Georgetown  $100,000;  to 
Peabody  Academy  $250,000 ;  and  numerous  other  con- 
tributions in  America. 

In  London  he  established  a  fund  of  $3,000,000  with 
which  to  build  homes  for  the  poor  of  that  great  city. 
The  Queen  acknowledged  this  in  a  private  letter,  and 
presented  him  with  her  portrait  painted  on  ivory  and  set 
in  jewels,  valued  at  $255,000.  She  also  offered  to  make 
him  a  Baron,  but  this  he  respectfully  declined. 

He  resembled  the  late  A.  T.  Stewart  in  some  respects. 
No  gold  chain  ever  hung  from  his  watch,  and  when  he 
wore  studs  or  other  ornaments  they  were  never  more 
costly  than  pearl.  He  detested  show.  Altogether  dur- 
ing his  life  he  gave  away  over  eight  millions  of  dol- 
lars, and  at  his  death  left  a  fortune  of  over  four  millions. 
Had  he  saved  his  money  and  manipulated  it  like  many, 
of  our  great  millionaires  have  done,  we  doubt  not  he 
would  have  died  worth  perhaps  twenty  or  thirty  millions. 


SUCCESSFUL  BANKERS,  AND  HOW  THEY  EARNED   SUCCESS.    119 

He,  however,  had  gained  not  only  worldly  success, 
but  true  success,  for  when  he  died  in  1869,  both  of  the 
great  English  speaking  nations  united  to  do  him  honor. 
He  was  at  first  laid  in  Westminister  Abbey  among  the 
dead  kings  and  queens.  After  this  her  Majesty's  ship 
Monarch  bore  his  remains  to  America  to  be  buried  in 
Danvers.  The  respect  in  which  he  is  held  by  the  people 
of  that  town  is  shown  when  we  know  that  they  have 
since  changed  the  name  of  their  town  to  Peabody.  He 
left  an  imperishable  crown  containing  pearls  which  can- 
not be  stolen.  They  are  set  in  homes  for  the  poor, 
libraries  for  every  one,  schools  for  the  young,  and  other 
securities  which  are  safely  stored  in  the  hearts  of  a 
grateful  people.  Ah !  we  are  thoughtful  after  reading 
the  life  of  such  a  man. 


William  W.  Corcoran. 


THE  veteran  philanthropist,  William  W.  Corcoran, 
was  born  in  1798.  He  began  his  business  career  in 
Georgetown,  but  for  many  years  he  has  been  a  resident 
of  Washington.  At  twenty  he  went  into  business  for 
himself,  beginning  as  an  auctioneer.  After  several  years 
of  successful  business  he  was  obliged  to  suspend,  during 
the  depressed  times  of  1838. 

After  this  he  was  married  to  the  beautiful  daughter 
of  Commodore  Morris,  of  the  United  States  Navy,  much 
to  the  disgust  of  that  gentleman,  who  little  dreamed 


120  HIDDEN    THEASURES. 

what  an  illustrious  son-in-law  I.Ir.  Corcoran  was  destined 
to  become.  Some  years  of  hard  struggle  followed,  but 
at  last  it  was  found  that  he  had  won  for  himself  a  some- 

• 

what  extended  reputation  as  a  linancier,  which  gained 
for  him  a  partnership  w^ith  the  successful  banker,  Riggs. 
This  firm  began  to  deal  in  United  States  Government 
securities,  which  were  then  at  a  low  ebb  abroad.  Being 
a  boy  friend  of  George  Peabody,  the  great  London 
banker,  his  firm  was  enabled  to  materially  aid  the  Gov- 
ernment in  its  financial  straits  during  the  Mexican  war. 
As  the  firm  prospered,  Mr.  Corcoran  became  wealthy, 
and  this  money  he  laid  out  in  Washington  real  estate, 
the  rapid  rise  of  which  made  him  a  millionaire.  As  Mr. 
Corcoran  prospered  he  began  to  think  of  those  old  debts. 
When  he  had  failed  he  secured  favorable  terms  with  his 
creditors,  and  legally  was  not  bound  for  one  cent,  but  he 
recognized  a  higher  obligation  than  law  made  by  man  : 
hunting  up  all  those  old  customers,  creditors  of  his,  he 
paid  them  not  only  the  principal,  but  the  interest  that 
had  been  accumulating  all  these  years.  By  this  one  act 
we  gain  a  glimpse  of  the  inner  heart  and  impulses  of 
this  great  and  good  man. 

Thousands  of  dollars  found  their  way  into  the  hands 
of  charity,  but  then  his  desire  to  aid  and  gratify  humanity 
was  not  satisfied. 

On  May  10th,  1869,  the  grounds  and  institution  for 
the  Corcoran  Art  Gallery  was  deeded  to  trustees,  and 
later  was  incorporated  by  Congress,  being  exempted  for- 
ever from  taxation.  The  gallery  is  situated  directly  op- 
posite the  State,  War,  and  JSTavy  buildings.  It  has  a 
frontage  of  one  hundred  and  six  feet ;  is  built  of  fine, 
pressed  brick;  and  is  one  of  the  most  attractive  buildings 
in  the  whole  City  of  Washington.     The  whole  building 


SUCCESSFUL  BANKERS,   AND  LIOW  THEY  EARNED  SUCCESS,   liil 

cost  $250,000,  and  tho  donor  placed  therein  his  own 
private  collection  of  paintings  and  statuar}^  vala^d  at 
$100,000.  Not  satisfied  with  this  he  has  added  an  en- 
dov/ment  fund  of  $500,000.  Many  rare  and  beautiful 
works  of  art  have  been  purchased  abroad,  as  well  as 
American  works  of  rare  value.  Tuesdays,  Thursdays, 
and  Saturdays  the  gallery  is  free  ;  on  alternate  days  an 
admission  of  twenty-five  cents  is  charged.  When  it  is 
considered  how  many  there  are  who  would  naturally 
take  advantage  of  the  free  days,  and  then  that  the  annual 
income  is  over  $75,000,  one  can  form  some  idea  of  the 
attractiveness  of  this  institution.  Mr.  Corcoran's  desire 
was  to  elevate  the  American  taste  in  the  finer  arts,  and 
the  thousands  of  visitors  which  the  institution  attracts, 
indicates  to  what  an  extent  he  has  succeeded.  The  lower 
floor  is  devoted  to  statues  and  to  the  exhibition  of  sculp- 
ture. The  second  floor  is  occui3ied  by  several  hundred  rare 
and  costly  x)aintings,  representing  the  advance  of  art 
during  the  past  centuries.  The  gallery  is,  probably,  all 
things  considered,  the  finest  of  the  kind  in  the  country. 

Another  institution  of  wide  celebrity  is  the  Louisa 
Home,  founded  by  Mr.  Corcoran  in  1871.  It  is  a  magnifi- 
cent building,  conspicuously  situated  in  the  most  fash- 
ionable part  of  the  city,  the  West  End.  This  is  a  most 
worthy  institution,  designed  for  ladies  who  have  been 
red  need  from  affluence  to  poverty,  affording  them  a  home 
where  they  can  mingle  with  a  class  of  people  congenial 
to  their  refined  natures.  This  building  is  a  beautiful 
brick  structure,  four  stories  high,  erected  at  a  cost  of 
$200,000.    Visitors  are  welcome  every  afternoon. 

These  are  only  two  of  the  many  gifts  and  enterprises' 
which  originated  with  the  venerable  banker.  Georg(f 
Peabody  and  William  Corcoran  were  boys  together ;  ho  vf 


122  HIDDEN    TREASURES. 

similar  their  lives  have  been.  Would  that  there  were 
more  Corcorans,  more  Peabodys.  Mr.  Corcoran  has  given 
several  millions  to  charity  and  ai-t ;  how  we  en^^  him — 
not  for  his  wealth,  but  his  reputation  or  better,  would 
that  we  could  do  as  much  good  in  the  world  as  did  these 
two  great  men. 


Nathan  Mayer  Rothschild. 


WHO  indeed  is  there  who  has  not  heard  of  the 
Eothschilds  ?  But  how  few  there  are  who  know 
much  of  them  save  that  they  are  the  richest  bankers  in 
the  whole  world.  The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  the 
richest  and  most  noted  of  five  brothers.  The  father, 
Mayer  Anselm  Rothschild,  sprung  from  a  poor  Jewish 
family,  and  was  a  clerk  in  Hanover  before  establishing 
himself  at  Frankfoi*t.  At  Hanover  it  is  claimed  that  his 
integrity  and  ability  became  so  marked  in  every  position 
to  which  he  was  called  that  the  attention  of  the  Govern- 
ment was  called  thereto. 

After  the  great  French  victory  of  Jena,  Napoleon 
decreed  that  the  Governor  of  Hesse-Cassel  should  have 
his  lands  and  property  confiscated.  The  order  was  no 
sooner  given  than  a  French  army  was  on  its  way  to  carry 
the  edict  into  efiPect.  The  Elector  William,  before  his 
flight  from  Hesse-Cassel,  deposited  with  the  father  of  the 
subject  of  this  sketch  $5,000,000,  without  interest,  for 
safe  keeping.    There  was  no  luck  about  this ;  it  was  a 


SUCCESSFUL  BANKERS  AND  HOW  THEY  EARNED  SUCCESS.    VS6 

most  difficult  undertaking  at  that  time.  Any  one  who 
had  been  found  witn  this  money  would  have  lost  his  life. 
For  Eothschild  to  invest  it  so  that  he  could  make  money 
from  its  use  was  his  object;  to  do  so  safely  and  se- 
cretly required  a  good  business  tact.  The  Elector,  it  is 
said,  studied  sometime  before  he  decided  to  whom  he 
could  intrust  this  vast  sum  during  his  absence.  Thus  it 
is  seen  that  as  Eothschild  came  of  poor  parents,  and 
was  simply  a  clerk.  It  was  not  so  much  luck  in  his  case  ^ 
as  strict  integrity  and  the  determination  he  manifested 
to  master  everything  he  undertook.  This  Rothschilds 
had  five  sons,  and  by  the  aid  of  these,  through  different 
bankers,  he  succeeded  by  good  management  to  lay  a 
foundation  upon  which  has  been  built  that  colossal  for- 
tune which  the  sons  have  accumulated.  This  money, 
belonging  to  the  Elector,  they  had  the  benefit  of  until 
1828,  when  the  whole  was  paid  over  to  the  heirs  of  the 
original  owner  with  two  per  cent,  interest  for  a  portion  of 
the  time.  Of  the  five  brothers,  Anselm  was  situated  at 
Frankfort,  Solomon  at  Vienna,  Charles  at  Naples,  James 
at  Paris,  and  Nathan  at  London.  The  two  ablest  finan- 
ciers were  James  and  Nathan,  and  of  these  two  Nathan 
was  the  superior.  His  son  was  the  first  Jew  that  ever 
sat  in  the  English  Parliament.  It  has  been  said  that  the 
fundamental  rule  of  this  great  banking-house  was  ''To 
sell  when  people  desired  to  buy,  and  buy  when  people- 
Wished  to  sell.'^  It  is  related  of  Nathan  Mayer  Roths- 
child that,  all  day  long,  at  the  battle  of  Waterloo, 
he  hung  about  the  skirts  of  the  two  armies,  waiting  to 
see  how  the  battle  turned.  Toward  night  of  that  mem- 
orable day,  the  clouds  of  smoke  lifting,  revealed  the 
French  army  in  full  and  disastrous  retreat.  Rothschild 
took  in  the  situation  at  once.    True  to  his  instincts,  he 


124  HIDDEN   TREASURES. 

saw  ill  that  awful  carnage  only  tlie  shimmer  cf  his  gold. 
Chance  had  overcome  the  most  heroic  valor,  the  most 
stubborn  resistance,  the  best  laid  plans,  and  once  more 
declared  in  the  Hebrew's  favor.  He  dashed  into  Brus- 
sels, whence  a  carriage  in  waiting  whirled  him  into  Os- 
tend.  At  dawn  he  stood  on  the  Belgian  coast,  against 
which  the  sea  was  madly  breaking.  He  oCered  five,  six, 
eight,  ten  hundred  francs  to  be  carried  over  to  England. 
The  mariners  feared  the  storm ;  but  a  bolder  fisherman, 
upon  promise  of  twenty-five  hundred  francs,  undertook  the 
hazardous  voyage.  Before  sunset  Rothschild  landed  at 
Dover ;  and  engaging  the  swiftest  horses,  rode  with  the 
wind  to  London.  What  a  sui)urb  special  correspondent 
he  would  have  made  !  The  merchants  and  bankers  were 
dejected ;  the  funds  were  depressed ;  a  dense  fog  hung 
over  the  city ;  English  spirits  had  sunk  to  their  lowest 
ebb.  On  the  morning  of  the  20th,  the  cunning  and  grasp- 
ing Nathan  appeared  at  the  Stock  Exchange,  an  embodi- 
ment of  gloom.  He  mentioned,  confidentially,  of  course, 
to  his  familiar  that  Blucher,  at  the  head  of  his  vast 
army  of  veterans,  had  been  defeated  by  Napoleon,  at 
Ligny,  on  the  16th  and  17th,  and  there  could  be  no  hope 
for  Wellington,  with  his  comparatively  small  and  undis- 
ciplined force.  This  was  half  true,  and  like  all  half- 
truths,  was  iDarticularly  calculated  to  deceive.  Roths- 
child was  a  leader  among  trading  reynards.  His  dole- 
ful whisper  spread  as  the  plague — poisoning  faith  every- 
where. The  funds  tumbled  like  an  aerolite.  Public  and 
private  opinion  wilted  before  the  simoon  of  calamitous 
report.  It  was  'Black  Friday'  anticipated  in  Lombard 
Street.  The  crafty  Israelite  bought,  through  his  secret 
agents,  all  the  consols,  bills,  and  notes,  for  which  he 
could  raise  monej^ 


SUCCESSFUL  BANKERS,  AND  HOW  THEY  EARNED  SUCCESS.    125 

Not  before  the  afternoon  of  the  21st — nearly  forty 
eight  hours  after  the  battle — did  the  news  of  Welling- 
ton's victory  reach  London  through  the  regular  channels. 
Rothschild  was  at  the  Exchange  half  an  hour  before  the 
glad  tidings  were  made  public,  and  imparted  them  to  a 
crowd  of  greedy  listeners.  The  Bourse  was  buoyant. 
Everything  went  up  more  rajpidly  than  it  had  gone 
down.  England  was  happy — as  well  she  might  be — for 
she  had  stumbled  into  the  greatest  triumxDh  in  her  his- 
tory. When  bankers  and  merchants  shook  hands  with  the 
Hebrew  speculator,  they  noticed — ^though  they  did  not 
understand — an  unusual  warmth  of  i)ressure.  It  was  not 
rejoicing  with  the  nation;  it  was  the  imaginary  clutch 
of  six  millions  more  of  gold.  Thus  it  is  seen  that  the 
great  wealth  of  the  Rothschild  was  not  always  used  to 
the  best  advantage  of  mankind  as  a  Christian  would 
argue;  but  a  promise  given  by  a  Rothschild  was  as  good 
as  his  note. 

Their  immense  wealth  has  greatly  aided,  at 
different  times,  all  and  singular,  the  various  European 
countries.  A  favorite  investment  with  them  has  been 
loans  to  the  different  Governments  throughout  the 
world. 

During  twelve  years  of  their  business  experience 
they  loaned  to  different  European  Monarchies  over 
$400,000,000.  When  it  is  considered  that  this  was  but 
one  division  of  their  business,  something  of  an  idea  of 
its  magnitude  can  be  imagined.  An  amusing  story  is 
told  of  Nathan  which  will  be  of  interest  to  some  of  our 
readers,  and  enable  them  to  see  how  fertile  was  his  mind 
in  emergencies. 

Anselm,  the  brother  at  Frankfort,  drew  on  Nathan, 
of  London,  for  a  large  amount,  and  the  bill  was  presented 


126  HIDDEN    TREASURES.      • 

to  the  Bank  of  England  to  be  discounted.  The  bank 
oflBcials  refused,  saying,  "We  do  not  discount  bills 
drawn  on  private  persons;  we  recognize  only  our  own 
paper.''  "Private  i)ersons!"  exclaimed  Nathan  Eoths- 
child  when  the  interview  was  reported  to  him,  "I  wili 
show  them  what  kind  of  private  persons  we  are."  Three 
weeks  afterwards,  Nathan  Eothschid, — who  had  em- 
ployed the  interval  in  collecting  all  the  five-pound  notes 
he  could  buy  on  the  continent,  or  in  England — iDresented 
himself  at  the  bank  on  the  opening  of  the  office.  He 
drew  from  his  pocket-book  a  five-pound  note,  and  they 
counted  him  out  in  exchange  five  gold  sovereigns,  at  the 
same  time  looking  quite  astonished  that  the  Baron 
Rothschild  should  have  personally  troubled  himself  for 
such  a  trifle.  The  Baron  examined  the  pieces  one  by 
one,  and  having  put  them  in  a  little  canvas  bag,  pro- 
ceeded to  draw  out  another  five-pound  note,  then  an- 
other, and  another  and  so  on.  He  never  put  the  i^ieces 
of  gold  into  the  bag  without  scrupulously  examing  them, 
in  some  instances  weighing  in  his  balance,  as,-  he  said, 
"the  law  gave  him  the  right  to  do."  The  first  pocket- 
book  being  emptied  and  the  first  bag  full  of  coins,  he 
passed  them  to  his  clerk,  and  received  a  second,  and  thus 
continued  to  the  closing  of  the  bank.  The  Baron  had 
employed  seven  hours  to  exchange  twenty-one  thousand 
pounds.  But  as  he  also  had  nine  employes  of  his  house 
engaged  in  the  same  manner,  it  resulted  that  the  house 
of  Rothschild  had  drawn  over  $1,000,000  from  the  bank. 
He  had  drawn  gold  exclusively,  and  so  occupied  the 
bank  emiDloyes  that  no  one  else  could  do  any  business. 
The  bankers  the  first  day  were  very  much  amused  at 
'*  This  display  of  eccentricity."  They,  however,  laughed 
less  the  next  day  when  they  beheld  Rothschild  on  hand 
early,  flanked  by  his  nine  clerks. 


SUCCESSFUL  BANKERS,  AND  HOW  THEY  EARNED   SUCCESS.    127 

They  laughed  no  longer  when  they  heard  the  irate 
banker  say,  ''  These  gentlemen  refused  to  iDay  my  bills ; 
I  have  sworn  not  to  keep  theirs.  They  can  pay  at  their 
leisure;  only  I  hereby  notify  them  that  I  have  enough  to 
employ  them  two  months ! "  Two  months  !  Fifty-five 
million  dollars  in  gold  drawn  from  the  Bank  of  England 
which  was  more  gold  than  they  had  to  pay  !  The  bank 
was  now  thoroughly  alarmed.  Something  must  be  done, 
and  the  next  morning  notice  ax)peared  in  all  the  papers 
that  henceforth  the  Bank  of  England  would  pay  Eoths- 
child's  bills  as  well  as  its  own. 

From  anecdotes  one  can  often  learn  much  of  the  in- 
ner life  and  thoughts  of  people,  and  much  can  be  seen 
of  the  real  character  of  the  subject  of  this  sketch  from 
the  above  story.    This  Napoleon  of  Finance  died  in  1836. 


■^^- 


**  The  man  who  seeks  one  thing  in  life^  and  but  one, 
May  hope  to  achieve  it  before  life  be  done  ; 
But  he  ivho  seeks  all  things,  tvherever  he  goes. 
Only  reaps  from  the  hopes  which  around  him  he  sows 
A  harvest  of  barren  regret^r 


128 


^M/^ 


life 


t> 


THE  subject  of  this  narrative  was  a  great-grandson  of 
Henry  Adams,  who  emigrated  from  England  about 
1640,  with  a  family  of  eight  sons,  being  one  of  the  earli* 
est  settlers  in  the  town  of  Braintree,  Massachusetts, 
where  he  had  a  grant  of  a  small  tract  of  forty  acres  of 
land.  The  father  of  John  Adams,  a  deacon  of  the  church, 
was  a  farmer  by  occupation,  to  which  was  added  the  bus-* 
iness  of  shoemaking.  He  was  a  man  of  limited  means, 
however,  was  enabled  by  hard  pinching  to  give  his  son  a 
fairly  good  education. 

The  old  French  and  Indian  war  was  then  at  its 
height;  and  in  a  remarkable  letter  to  a  friend,  which 
contains  some  curious  prognostications  as  to  the  relative 
population  and  commerce  of  England  and  her  colonies 
a  hundred  years  hence,  young  Adams  describes  himself 


130  HIDDEN   TREASURES. 

as  having  turned  politician.  He  succeeded  in  gaining 
charge  of  the  grammar  school  in  Worcester,  Massachu- 
setts, but,  instead  of  finding  this  duty  agreeable,  he 
found  it  ^a  school  of  affliction,'  and  turned  his  attention 
to  the  stud)^  of  law.  Determined  to  become  a  first-class 
lawyer,  he  placed  himself  under  the  especial  tuition  of 
the  only  lawyer  of  whom  Worcester,  though  the  county 
seat,  could  boast. 

He  had  thought  seriously  of  the  clerical  profession, 
but,  according  to  his  own  expressions,  "The  frightful  en- 
gines of  ecclesiastical  councils,  of  diabolical  malice,  and 
Calvinistic  good  nature,"  the  operation  of  which  he  had 
witnessed  in  some  church  controversies  in  his  native 
town,  terrified  him  out  of  it.  Adams  was  a  very  ambi- 
tious man;  already  he  had  longings  for  distinction.  Could 
he  have  obtained  a  troop  of  horse,  or  a  company  of  in- 
fantry, he  would  undoubtedly  have  entered  the  army. 
Nothing  but  want  of  patronage  prevented  his  becoming 
a  soldier. 

After  a  two  years'  course  of  study,  he  returned  to  his 
native  town,  Braintree,  and  in  1758  commenced  practice 
in  Suffolk  county,  of  which  Boston  was  the  shire  town. 
By  hard  study  and  hard  work  he  gradually  introduced 
himself  into  practice,  and  in  1764  married  a  young  lady 
far  above  his  station  in  life.  In  our  perusal  and  study  of 
eminent  men  who  have  risen  by  their  own  exertions  to  a 
higher  sphere  in  life,  we  are  not  at  all  surprised  to  find 
that  they  have  invariably  married  noble  women — ladies, 
who  have  always  maintained  a  restraining  influence 
when  the  desire  for  honor  and  public  attention  would 
appeal  to  their  baser  self,  and  whose  guiding  influence 
tended  to  strengthen  their  effoiis  when  their  energies 
seemed  to  slacken.    So  it  was  with  John  Adams ;  his 


FROM  OBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.  131 

wife  was  a  lady  of  rare  abilities  and  good  sense,  admira- 
bly adapted  to  make  him  happy.  Boys,  be  careful  whon^ 
you  marry ! 

Shortly  after  his  entrance  into  the  practice  of  tha 
law,  the  attempt  at  parliamentary  taxation  diverted  his 
attention  from  his  profession  to  politics.  He  was  a  most 
active  oppositionist.  He  promoted  the  call  of  the  town 
of  Braintree  to  instruct  the  representatives  of  the  town 
on  the  subject  of  the  Stamp  Act.  The  resolutions  which 
he  presented  at  this  meeting  were  not  only  voted  by  the 
town,  but  attracted  great  attention  throughout  the 
province,  and  were  adopted  verbatim  by  more  than  forty 
different  towns.  Thus  it  i^  seen  that  Adams  had  not 
studied  hard  all  these  years  for  nothing ;  the  price  of 
success  is  honest,  faithful  work. 

Of  course  his  towns-people  would  reward  him.  Men 
who  have  ability,  unless  some  bolt  is  loose,  will  invari- 
ably gain  success.  Soon  after  this  Mr.  Adams  was  ap- 
pointed on  the  part  of  the  town  of  Boston  to  be  one  of 
their  counsel,  along  with  the  King's  attorney,  and  head 
of  the  bar,  and  James  Otis,  the  celebrated  orator,  to  sup- 
port a  memorial  addressed  to  the  Governor  and  Council, 
that  the  courts  might  proceed  with  business  though  no 
stamps  were  to  be  had.  Although  junior  counsel,  it  fell 
to  Adams  to  open  the  case  for  the  petitioners,  as  his 
seniors  could  not  join;  the  one  owing  to  his  position  as 
King's  attorney,  the  other  could  not  as  he  had  recently 
published  a  book  entitled  the  *  Rights  of  the  Colonies.' 
This  was  a  grand  opportunity  for  Adams  and  he  made 
the  most  of  it, — boldly  taking  the  ground  that  the  stamp 
act  was  null  and  void,  Parliment  having  no  right  to  tax 
the  colonies.  Nothing,  however,  came  ,of  this  applica- 
tion; the  Governor  and  Council  declining  to  act,  on  the 


132  HIDDEN   TREASURES. 

ground  that  it  belonged  to  the  Judges,  not  to  them,  to 
decide. 

But  Adams  had  put  himself  on  record,  and  this  record 
established  his  reputation.  "There  is  a  tide  in  the 
affairs  of  men,  which,  taken  at  the  flood,  leads  on  to  for- 
tune." The  time  came  to  Adams  to  distinguish  himself, 
and  he  was  not  found  wanting.  It  was  at  this  same 
period  that  Mr.  Adams  first  appeared  as  a  writer  in  the 
Boston  Gazette.  He  never  allowed  his  opportunities  to 
pass  unheeded;  in  fact,  he  made  his  opportunities. 
Among  other  papers  which  apj)eared  at  this  time  from 
his  pen,  was  a  series  of  four  articles  which  were  repub- 
lished in  a  London  newspaper,  and  subsequently  pub- 
lished in  a  collection  of  documents  relating  to  the 
taxation  controversy,  printed  in  a  large  volume.  At 
first  the  papers  had  no  title  in  the  printed  volume,  being- 
known  as  "  Essays  on  the  Canon  and  Feudal  Law."  Well 
they  might  have  been  called  so,  but,  it  seems  to  us,  that 
it  would  have  been  much  more  consistent  to  have  en- 
titled them  ''Essays  on  the  Grovernment  and  Rights  of 
New  England."  His  style  was  formed  from  the  first,  as 
is  evident  from  the  articles. 

His  law  business  continued  to  increase  and  in  1768  he 
removed  to  Boston  where  he  would  have  a  larger  field  in 
which  to  develop  his  intellect.  He  served  on  various 
committees  during  the  next  two  years,  and  in  1770  was 
chosen  a  Reprasentative  to  the  general  Court,  notwith- 
standing he  had  just  before  accepted  a  retainer  to  defend 
Captain  Preston  and  his  soldiers  for  their  share  in  what 
had  i)assed  into  history  as  the  Boston  massacre.  His 
ability  as  a  practitioner  at  the  bar  can  be  judged  from 
the  successful  result  of  their  case,  as  managed  by  him, 
against  great  public  prejudice.    Adams'  duties  as  a  Rep- 


FROM  OBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.         133 

resentative  interfered  much  with  his  business  as  a  lawyer, 
on  which  he  depended  for  support,  and  which  had  grown 
to  be  larger  than  that  of  any  other  practitioner  at  the 
provincial  bar. 

He  entered  u^Don  the  duties  of  his  new  office  with  his 
customary  energy,  becoming  the  chief  legal  advisor  of 
the  Patriot  party,  and  now  for  the  first  time  an  active 
and  conspicuous  leader  of  the  same.  Mr.  Adams^  keen 
foresight  enabled  him  to  wisely  judge  that  it  would  be  a 
good  policy  not  to  push  too  vigorously  to  the  front  as  a 
politician  until  his  private  wealth  would  justify  his 
necessarily  great  loss  of  time.  Hence,  he  moved  back 
to  Braintree,  resigning  his  seat  in  the  Legislature,  but 
still  retaining  his  law  office  in  Boston.  A  comparative 
lull  in  politics  made  his  presence  in  that  body  less 
needed,  but  still  he  was  consulted  as  to  all  the  more 
difficult  points  in  the  controversy  with  Governor  Hutch- 
inson, and  freely  gave  his  aid.  Indeed,  it  was  not  long 
before  he  moved  back  to  Boston,  but  thoroughly  resolved 
to  avoid  politics,  and  to  devote  his  undivided  attention 
to  his  professional  work.  Soon  after  his  return  to  Boston 
he  wrote  a  series  of  letters  on  the  then  mooted  question 
of  the  independence  of  the  judiciary,  and  the  payment 
by  the  Crown  of  the  salaries  of  the  Judges.  Soon  after 
this  he  was  elected  by  the  general  Court  to  the  Provin-  ^ 
cial  Council,  but  was  rejected  by  Governor  Hutchinson. 

The  destruction  of  tea,  and  the  Boston  port  bill  that  fol- 
lowed, soon  brought  matters  to  a  crisis.  These  events 
produced  the  congress  of  1774.  Mr.  Adams  was  one  of 
the  five  delegates  sent  from  Massachusetts,  and  his  visit 
to  Philadelphia  at  this  time  was  the  first  occasion  of  his 
going  beyond  the  limits  of  New  England.  In  the  dis- 
cussions in  the  committee  on  the  declaration  of  colonial 


134  HIDDEN    TREASURES. 

rights,  he  took  an  active  part  in  resting  those  rights  on 
the  law  of  nature  as  well  as  the  law  of  England ;  and 
when  the  substance  of  those  resolutions  had  been  agreed 
upon  he  was  chosen  to  put  the  matter  m  shape.  In  his 
diary  the  most  trustworthy  and  graphic  descriptions  are 
to  be  found  of  the  members  and  doings  of  that  famous 
but  little  known  body.  The  session  concluded,  Mr. 
Adams  left  the  city  of  brotherly  love  with  little  expecta- 
tion, at  that  time,  of  ever  again  seeing  it. 

Immediately  after  his  return  home  he  was  chosen  by 
his  native  town  a  member  of  the  provincial  congress 
then  in  session.  That  congress  had  already  appointed  a 
committee  of  safety  vested  with  general  executive 
powers ;  had  seized  the  provincial  revenues ;  had  ap- 
pointed general  officers,  collected  military  stores,  and 
had  taken  steps  toward  organizing  a  volunteer  army  of 
minute-men.  The  governor — Gage — had  issued  a  procla- 
mation denouncing  these  proceedings,  but  no  attention 
was  ever  paid  to  it.  Gage  had  no  support  except  in  the 
five  or  six  regiments  that  guarded  Boston,  a  few  tremb- 
ling officials  and  a  small  following  from  the  people. 

Shortly  after  the  adjournment  of  this  congress  Adams 
occupied  himself  in  answering  through  the  press  a 
champion  of  the  mother-country's  claim.  This  party, 
under  the  head  of  ^Massachusettensis,' had  commenced 
a  series  of  able  and  effective  arguments  in  behalf  of  the 
mother-country,  which  were  being  published  in  a  Bosto:i 
journal.  To  these  Adams  replied  over  the  signature  of 
•Novanglus.'  These  were  papers  displaying  unusual 
ability  on  either  part.  They  were  afterwards  published 
as"  A  History  of  the  Dispute  with  America,"  and  later  yet 
in  pamphlet  form.  Their  value  consists  in  the  strong, 
contemporaneous  views  which  they  present  of  the  origin 


FEOM  OBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.         135 

of  the  struggle  between  the  colonies  and  the  mother- 
country,  and  the  policy  of  Bernard  and  Hutchinson  as 
governors  of  Massachusetts,  which  did  so  much  to  bring 
on  the  struggle.  Like  all  the  writings  of  Mr.  Adams, 
they  are  distinguished  by  a  bold  tone  of  investigation,  a 
resort  to  first  principles,  and  a  pointed  style ;  but,  like 
all  his  other  writings,  being  produced  by  piecemeal,  and 
on  the  spur  of  the  moment,  they  lack  order,  system, 
polish  and  precision. 

In  the  midst  of  the  excitement  produced  by  the  battiC 
of  Lexington — which  at  once  brought  up  the  spirit  of 
even  the  most  hesitating  patriots  to  the  fighting  pitch, 
and  which  was  speedily  followed  by  the  seizure  of  Ticon- 
deroga  and  Crown  Point,  and  by  other  similar  seizures 
in  other  colonies  throughout  the  fast  uniting  provinces 
— John  Adams  once  more  set  out  for  Philadelphia  to  at- 
tend the  Continental  Congress  of  1775,  of  which  he  had 
been  appointed  a  member.  This  congress,  though  made 
up  for  the  most  part  of  the  same  men  who  constituted 
that  of  the  previous  year,  was  a  wholly  different  body 
from  its  iDredecessor.  The  congress  of  1774  was  merely 
a  suggestive  convention.  The  present  congress  speedily 
assumed,  or  rather  had  thrust  upon  it  by  unanimous 
consent  of  the  patriots,  the  exercise  of  a  comprehensive 
authority  in  which  supreme  executive,  legislative  and, 
in  some  cases,  judicial  functions,  were  united.  In  this 
busy  scene  the  active  and  untiring  Adams,  oue  of  whose 
distinguishing  characteristics  was  his  capacity  and  fond- 
ness FOR  business,  found  ample  employment ;  while  his 
bold  and  pugnacious  spirit  was  not  a  little  excited  by 
the  hazards  and  dignity  of  the  great  game  in  which  he 
had  come  to  hold  so  deep  a  stake.    Unlike  many  of  that 


18(5  HIDDEN   TREASURES. 

body,  Adams  had  made  up  his  mind  that  any  attempt 
tending  toward  reconciliation  was  hopeless. 

Under  the  lead  of  Dickinson,  though  against  the 
strenuous  opposition  of  Adams  and  others,  that  body- 
voted  still  another  and  final  petition  to  the  king.  How- 
ever, Adams  succeeded  in  joining  with  this  vote  one  to 
put  the  colonies  into  a  state  of  defence,  though  with  pro- 
testations that  the  war  on  their  part  was  for  defence 
only,  and  without  revolutionary  intent.  Not  long  after 
this  congress  was  brought  up  to  the  point  of  assuming 
the  responsibility  and  control  of  the  military  operations 
which  New  England  had  commenced  by  laying  siege  to 
Boston,  in  which  town  General  Gage  and  his  troo^DS  were 
caged,  and  before  which  lay  animpromptuNew  England 
army  of  15,000  men  which  the  battle  of  Lexington  had 
immediately  brought  together.  Urged  by  the  iSTew  Eng- 
land delegates,  congress  agreed  to  assume  the  expense  of 
maintaining  this  army.  John  Adams  was  the  first  to  pro- 
pose the  name  of  George  Washington  for  the  chief  com- 
mander ;  his  desire  being  to  secure  the  good-will  and  co- 
operation of  the  southern  colonies.  The  southern  colo- 
nies also  urged  General  Lee  for  the  second  place,  but 
Adams  insisted  on  giving  that  to  Aitemas  Ward,  he, 
however,  supported  Lee  for  the  third  place.  Having 
assumed  the  direction  of  this  army,  provided  for  its  re- 
organization, and  issued  letters  of  credit  for  its  mainte- 
nance, this  congress  took  a  recess.  Adams  returned  home, 
but  was  not  allowed  any  rest. 

People  who  really  I'.ave  ability  are  never  allowed  to 
remain  idle  ;  the  fault  is  not  in  others,  but  in  us.  No 
sooner  had  Mr.  Adams  arrived  home  than  his  Massachu- 
setts friends  sent  him  as  a  member  to  the  State  coun- 
cil.    This  council  had,  under  a  clause  of  the  provincial 


FROM  OBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.         137 

charter  intended  to  meet  such  cases,  assumed  the  execu- 
tive authority,  declaring  the  gubernatorial  chair  vacant. 
On  returning  to  Phildelphia  in  September,  Adams  found 
himself  in  hot  water.  Two  confidential  letters  of  his, 
written  during  the  previous  session,  had  been  intercepted, 
by  the  British  in  crossing  the  Hudson  river,  and  had 
been  published  in  the  Boston  papers.  N"ot  only  did  those 
letters  evince  a  zeal  for  decisive  measure  which  made  the 
writer  an  object  of  suspicion  to  the  more  conservative  of 
his  fellow-members  of  Congress,  but  his  reference  in  one 
of  them  to  'the  whims,  the  caprice,  the  vanity,  the  su- 
perstition, and  the  irritability  of  some  of  his  colleagues,' 
and  particularly  to  John  Dickinson  as  '  a  certain  great 
fortune  but  trifling  genius,'  made  him  personal  enemies 
by  whom  he  was  never  forgiven. 

But,  though  for  a  moment  an  object  of  distrust  to 
some  of  his  colleagues,  this  did  not  save  him  from  hard 
work.  About  this  time  he  wrote:  ''I  am  engaged  in 
constant  work ;  from  seven  to  ten  in  the  morning  in  com- 
mittee, from  ten  to  four  in  Congress,  and  from  six  to  ten 
again  in  committee.  Our  assembl)^  is  scarcely  numerous 
enough  for  the  business ;  everybody  is  engaged  all  day 
in  Congress,  and  all  the  morning  and  evening  in  com- 
mittee." The  committee,  which  chiefly  engaged  Mr. 
Adams'  attention  at  this  time,  was  one  on  the  fitting  out 
of  cruisers,  and  on  naval  affairs  generally.  This  com- 
mittee laid  the  foundation  of  our  first  navy ;  the  basis 
of  our  naval  code  being  drawn  up  by  Adams. 

Governor  Wentworth  having  fled  from  New  Hamp- 
shire, the  people  of  that  province  applied  to  congress  for 
advice  as  to  how  to  manage  their  administrative  affairs. 
Adams,  always  ahead  of  his  brother  legislators,  seized 
the  opportunity  to  urge  the  necessity  of  advising  all  of 


138  '  HIDDEN    TREASURES. 

the  provinces  to  proceed  at  once  to  institute  governments 
of  their  own.  The  news,  soon  arriving  of  the  haughty 
treatment  of  their  petition  by  the  king,  added  strength 
to  his  pleading,  and  the  matter  being  referred  to  a  com- 
mittee on  which  Adams  w^as  placed,  a  report  in  partial 
conformity  to  his  ideas  was  made  and  adopted.  Adams 
was  a  worker ;  this  was  a  recognized  fact ;  and  his  State 
having  offered  him  the  post  of  Chief  Justice  of  Massa- 
chusetts, Adams,  toward  the  end  of  the  year,  returned 
home  to  consult  on  that  and  other  important  matters* 
He  took  his  seat  in  the  council,  of  which  he  had  been 
chosen  a  member,  immediately  on  his  arrival.  He  was 
consulted  by  Washington,  both  as  to  sending  General 
Lee  to  New  York,  and  as  to  the  expedition  against  Can- 
ada. It  was  finally  arranged  that  while  Adams  should 
accept  the  appointment  of  Chief  Justice,  he  should  still 
remain  a  delegate  in  Congress,  and  till  more  quiet  times 
should  be  excused  as  acting  in  the  capacity  of  judge. 
Under  this  arrangement  he  returned  to  Philadelphia. 
However,  he  never  took  his  seat  as  Chief  Justice,  resign- 
ing that  office  the  next  year. 

Advice  similar  to  that  to  New  Hampshire  on  the  sub- 
ject of  assuming  government,  as  it  was  called,  had  shortly 
afterwards  been  given  upon  similar  applications  to  Con- 
gress, to  South  Carolina  and  Virginia.  Adams  was  much 
consulted  by  members  of  the  southern  delegation  concern- 
ing the  form  of  government  which  they  should  adopt. 
He  was  recognized  as  being  better  versed  in  the  subject 
of  Republicanism,  both  by  study  and  experience,  coming 
as  he  did  from  the  most  thoroughly  Republican  section 
of  the  country.  Of  several  letters  which  he  wrote  on 
this  subject,  one  more  elaborate  than  the  others,  was 
printed  under  the  title  of  ''Thoughts  on  Government 


FROM  OBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.         139 

applicable  to  the  present  state  of  the  American  Colonies." 
This  paper  being  largely  circulated  in  Virginia  as  a 
preliminary  to  the  adoption  of  a  form  of  government  by 
that  State,  was  to  a  certain  extent  a  rejoinder  to  that 
part  of  Paine's  famous  pamphlet  of  Common  Sense/ 
which  advocated  government  by  a  single  assembly.  It 
was  also  designed  to  controvert  the  aristocratic  views, 
somewhat  prevalent  in  Virginia,  of  those  who  advocated 
a  governor  and  senate  to  be  elected  for  life.  Adams'  sys- 
tem of  policy  embraced  the  adoption  of  self-govern- 
ment by  each  of  the  colonies,  a  confederation,  and  treaties 
with  foreign  powers.  The  adoption  of  this  system  he 
continued  to  urge  with  zeal  and  increasing  success,  until 
finally,  on  May  13th,  he  carried  a  resolution  through  Con- 
gress by  which  so  much  of  his  plan  was  endorsed  by  that 
body  as  related  to  the  assumption  of  self-government  by 
the  several  colonies.  A  resolution  that  the  United  States 
^Are  and  ought  to  be  free  and  independent,'  introduced 
by  R.  H.  Lee  under  instructions  from  the  Virgina  con- 
vention, was  very  warmly  supported  by  Adams  and  car- 
ried, seven  States  to  six.  Three  committees,  one  on  a^ 
Declaration  of  Independence;  another  on  Confederation; 
and  third  on  Foreign  Eolations,  were  shortly  formed. 
Of  the  first  and  third  of  these  committees,  Adams  was  a 
member. 

The  Declaration  of  Independence  was  drawn  up  by 
Jefferson,  but  on  Adams  devolved  the  task  of  battling  it 
through  Congress  in  a  three  days'  debate,  during  which  it 
Underwent  some  curtailment.  The  plan  of  a  treaty  re- 
ported by  the  third  committee,  and  adopted  by  Congress, 
Was  drawn  up  by  Adams.  His  views  did  not  extend  be- 
yond merely  commercial  treaties.  He  was  opposed  to 
seeking  any  political  connection  with  France,  or  any  mil- 


140  HIDDEN    TREASURES. 

itary  or  even  naval  assistance  from  her  or  any  foreign 
power.  On  June  12tli  Congress  had  established  a  board 
of  war  and  ordinance,  to  consist  of  five  members,  with 
a  secretary,  clerk,  etc., — in  fact,  a  war  department.  As 
originally  constituted,  the  members  of  this  board  were 
taken  from  Congress,  and  the  subject  of  this  narrative 
Was  chosen  its  president  or  chairman.  This  position  was 
one  of  great  labor  and  responsibility,  as  the  chief  burden 
of  the  duties  fell  upon  him,  he  continued  to  hold  for  the 
next  eighteen  months,  with  the  exception  of  a  necessary 
absence  at  the  close  of  the  year  1776,  to  recruit  his  health. 

The  business  of  preparing  articles  of  war  for  the 
government  of  the  army  was  deputed  to  a  committee 
composed  of  Adams  and  Jefferson;  but  Jefferson,  accord- 
ing to  Adams'  account,  threw  upon  him  the  whole  bur- 
den, not  only  of  drawing  up  the  articles,  which  he  bor- 
rowed mostly  from  Great  Britain,  but  of  arguing  them 
through  Congress,  which  was  no  small  task  Adams 
strongly  opposed  Lord  Howe's  invitation  to  a  conference, 
sent  to  Congress,  through  his  prisoner.  General  Sullivan, 
after  the  battle  of  Long  Island.  He  was,  however,  ap- 
]Dointed  one  of  the  committee  for  that  purpose,  together 
with  Franklin  and  Eutledge,  and  his  autobiography  con- 
tains some  curious  anecdotes  concerning  the  visit.  Be- 
sides his  presidency  of  the  board  of  war,  Adams  was  also 
chairman  of  t  \e  committee  upon  which  devolved  the 
decision  of  appeals  in  admiralty  cases  from  the  State 
courts.  Having  thus  occupied  for  nearly  two  years  a 
position  which  gained  for  him  the  reputation,  among  a.t 
least  a  few  of  his  colleagues,  of  having  "the  clearest 
head  and  firmest  heart  of  any  man  in  Congress." 

He  was  appointed  near  the  end  of  1777  a  commis- 
sioner to  France,  to  supercede  Deane,  whom  Congress 


FROM  OBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.         141 

had  concluded  to  recall.  He  embarked  at  Boston,  in  the 
Frigate  Boston,  on  February  12th,  1878,  reaching  Bor- 
deaux after  a  stormy  passage,  and  arrived  on  April  8th 
at  Paris.  As  the  alliance  with  France  had  been  com- 
pleted before  his  arrival,  his  stay  was  short.  He  found  that 
a  great  antagonism  of  views  and  feelings  had  arisen  be- 
tween the  three  commissioners, — Franklin,  Deane,  and 
Arthur  Lee,  of  whom  the  embassy  to  France  had  been 
originally  composed.  As  the  recall  of  Deane  had  not 
reconciled  the  other  two,  Adams  devised,  as  the  only 
means  of  giving  unity  and  energy  to  the  mission,  that  it 
should  be  intrusted  to  a  single  person.  This  suggestion 
was  adopted,  and  in  consequence  of  it,  Franklin  having 
been  appointed  sole  embassador  in  France,  Adams  re- 
turned home. 

He  arrived  at  Boston  just  as  a  convention  was  about 
to  meet  to  form  a  State  constitution  for  Massachusetts, 
and,  being  at  once  chosen  a  member  from  Braintree, 
he  was  enabled  to  take  a  leading  part  in  the  formation 
of  that  important  document.  Before  this  convention 
had  finished  its  business  he  was  appointed  by  congress 
as  minister  to  treat  with  Great  Britain  for  peace,  and 
.commerce,  under  which  appointment  he  again  sailed  for 
France  in  1779,  in  the  same  French  frigate  in  which  he 
previously  returned  to  the  United  States. 

Contrary  to  his  own  inclinations,  Mr.  Adams  was  pre- 
vented by  Yergennes,  the  French  minister  of  foreign 
affairs,  from  making  any  communication  of  his  powers 
to  Great  Britain.  In  fact,  Vergennes  and  Adams  already 
Were,  and  continued  to  be,  objects  of  distrust  to  one  an- 
other, in  both  cases  quite  unfounded.  Vergennes  feared 
least  advances  toward  treating  with  England  might  lead 
to  some  sort  of  reconciliation  with  her,  short  of  the  in- 


142  HIDDEN    TREASURES. 

dependence  of  the  colonies,  which  was  contrary  to  his 
ideas  of  the  interest  of  France.  The  communications 
made  to  Vergennes  by  Gerard,  the  first  French  minister 
in  America,  and  Adams'  connection  with  the  Lee's 
whom  Vergennes  suspected,  though  unjustly,  of  a  secret 
communication  through  Arthur  Lee  with  the  British 
ministry,  led  him  to  regard  Mr.  Adams  as  the  representa- 
tive of  a  party  in  congress  desirous  of  such  a  reconcilia- 
tion ;  nor  did  he  rest  until  he  had  obtained  from  con- 
gress, some  two  years  after,  the  recall  of  Mr.  Adams' 
powers  to  negotiate  a  treaty  of  commerce;  and,  in  con- 
junction with  him,  of  several  colleagues  to  treat  for 
peace,  of  whom  Franklin,  who  enjoyed  his  entire  con- 
fidence, was  one. 

Adams,  on  the  other  hand,  not  entirely  free  from 
hereditary  English  prejudices  against  the  French,  vehe- 
mently suspected  Vergennes  of  a  design  to  sacrifice  the 
interests  of  America,  especially  the  fisheries  and  the 
western  lands,  to  the  advancement  of  the  Spanish  house 
of  Bourbon.  While  lingering  at  Paris,  with  nothing  to 
do  except  to  nurse  these  suspicions,  Adams  busied  him- 
self in  furnishing  communications  on  American  affairs 
to  a  semi-official  gazette  conducted  by  M.  Genet,  chief 
secretary  in  the  foreign  bureau,  and  father  of  the  French 
minister  in  America,  who  subsequently  rendered  that 
name  so  notorious. 

Finding  his  position  at  Paris  uncomfortable,  he  pro- 
ceeded to  Holland  in  July,  1780,  his  object  being  to  form 
an  opinion  as  to  the  probability  of  borrowing  money 
there.  Just  about  the  same  time  he  was  appointed  by 
Congress  to  negotiate  a  French  loan,  the  party  who  had 
been  selected  for  that  purpose  previously,  Laurens,  not 
yet  being  ready  to  leave  home.    By  way  of  enlightening 


FROM  OBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.         143 

the  Dutch  in  regard  to  American  affairs,  Adams  pub- 
lished in  the  Gazette,  of  Leyden,  a  number  of  papers  and 
extracts,  including  several  which,  through  a  friend,  he 
first  had  published  in  a  London  journal  to  give  to  them 
an  English  character.  To  these  he  added  direct  publica- 
tion of  his  own,  afterward  many  times  reprinted,  and 
now  to  be  found  in  volume  VII  of  his  collected  works 
under  the  title  of  '  Twenty-six  Letters  upon  Interesting 
Subjects  Respecting  the  Revolution  in  America.'  He 
had  commenced  negotiations  for  a  loan  when  his  labors 
in  that  direction  were  interrupted  by  the  sudden  breach 
between  England  and  Holland,  consequent  upon  the 
capture  of  Laurens  and  the  discovery  of  the  secret  nego- 
tiation carried  on  between  him  and  Van  Berkel,  of  Am- 
sterdam, which,  though  it  had  been  entered  into  without 
authority  of  the  Dutch  States,  was  made  an  excuse  by 
the  British  for  a  speedy  declaration  of  war. 

Adams  was  soon  after  appointed  minister  to  Holland 
m  place  of  the  captured  Laurens,  and  at  the  same  time 
was  commissioned  to  sign  the  articles  of  armed  neutrality 
which  had  just  made  their  appearance  on  the  politi- 
cal scene.  Adams  presented  memorials  to  the  Dutch 
government  setting  forth  his  powers  in  both  respects ; 
but  before  he  could  procure  any  recognition  he  was  re- 
called in  July,  1781,  to  Paris,  by  a  notice  that  he  was 
needed  there,  in  his  character  of  minister,  to  treat  for 
peace. 

Adams'  suspicion  of  Vergennes  had,  meanwhile,  been 
not  a  little  increased  by  the  neglect  of  France  to  second 
his  applications  to  Holland.  With  Vergennes  the  great 
object  was  peace.  The  finances  of  France  were  sadly 
embarrassed,  and  Vergennes  wished  no  further  compli- 
cations to  the  war.    Provided  the  English  colonies  should 


144  HIDDEN   TREASURES. 

be  definitely  separated  from  the  mother-countiy,  which 
he  considered  indispensable  to  the  interest  of  France,  he 
was  not  disposed  to  insist  on  anything  else.  It  was  for  this 
reason  that  he  had  urged  upon,  and  just  about  this  time 
had  succeeded  in  obtaining  from  Congress,  through  the 
French  Minister  at  Philadelphia — though  the  informa- 
tion had  not  yet  reached  Paris — not  only  the  withdrawal 
of  Adams'  commission  to  treat  of  commerce,  and  the 
enlargement  to  five  of  the  number  of  commissioners  to 
treat  for  peace,  but  an  absolute  discretion  intrusted  to  the 
negotiators  as  to  everything  except  independence  and  the 
additional  direction  that  in  the  last  resort  they  were  to 
be  governed  by  tlie  advice  of  Vergennes.  The  cause  for 
sending  for  Adams,  who  still  occupied,  so  far  as  was 
known  at  Paris,  the  position  of  sole  negotiator  for  peace  : 
the  offer  of  meditation  on  the  part  of  Russia  and  the  G  er - 
man  empire  ;  but  this  offer  led  to  nothing. 

Great  Britain  haughtily  rejected  it  on  the  ground  that 
she  would  not  allow  France  to  stand  between  her  and 
her  colonies.  Returning  to  Holland  Mr.  Adams,  though 
still  unsupported  by  Yergennes,  pushed  with  great  energy 
his  reception  as  embassador  by  the  States  general,  which 
at  length,  April  19th,  1782,  he  succeeded  in  accomplish- 
ing. Following  up  this  success  with  his  customary  per- 
SEVERENCE,  he  succccded  before  the  end  of  the  year  in 
negotiating  a  Dutch  loan  of  nearly  two  millions  of  dol- 
lars, the  first  of  a  series  which  proved  a  chief  financial 
resource  of  the  continental  congress.  He  also  succeeded 
in  negotating  a  treaty  of  amity  and  commerce.  His  suc- 
cess in  these  negotiations,  considering  the  obstacles  with 
which  he  had  to  contend,  and  the  want  of  support  from 
Vergennes,  he  was  accustomed  to  regard  as  the  greatest 

triumph  of  his  life. 
9 


FROM  OBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.         145 

Before  this  business  was  completed,  Mr.  Adams  re- 
ceived urgent  calls  to  come  to  Paris  where  Jay  and 
Franklin,  two  of  the  new  commissioners,  were  already 
treating  for  peace,  and  where  he  arrived  October  26th. 
Though  Mr.  Jay  had  been  put  into  the  diplomatic  service 
by  the  procurement  of  the  party  in  congress  in  the  French 
interest,  his  diplomatic  experience  in  Spain  had  led  him 
also  to  entertain  doubts  as  to  the  sincere  good-will  of 
Vergennes.  A  confidential  dispatch  from  the  French 
Secretary  of  Legation  in  America,  intercepted  by  the 
British,  and  which  Oswald,  the  British  negotiator  at  Paris 
communicated  to  Franklin  and  Jay,  with  a  view  of  mak- 
ing bad  feeling  between  them  and  the  French  minister, 
had,  along  with  other  circumstances,  induced  Franklin 
and  Jay  to  disregard  their  instructions,  and  to  proceed  to 
treat  with  Oswald  without  communicating  that  fact  to 
Vergennes,  or  taking  his  advice  as  to  terms  of  the  treaty, 
a  procedure  in  which  Adams,  after  his  arrival,  fully 
concurred. 

It  was  chiefly  through  his  en'ergy  and  persistence  that 
the  participation  of  America  in  the  fisheries  was  secured 
by  the  treaty,  not  as  a  favor  or  a  privilege,  but  as  a  right 
— a  matter  of  much  more  importance  then  than  now,  the 
fisheries  then  being  a  much  more  important  branch  than 
now  of  American  maritime  industry. 

Immediately  upon  the  signature  of  the  preliminary 
articles  of  peace,  Adams  asked  leave  to  resign  all  his  com- 
missions and  to  return  home,  to  which  Congress  responded 
by  appointing  him  a  commissioner  jointly  with  Franklin 
and  Jay,  to  negotiate  a  treaty  of  commerce  with  Great 
Britain.  His  first  visit  to  England  was,  however,  in  a 
private  character,  to  recruit  his  health,  after  a  violfent 
fever  with  which  he  had  been  attacked,  shortly  after 


146  HIDDEN    TREASURES. 

signing  the  treaty  of  peace.  He  spent  some  time,  first 
at  London,  and  afterward  at  Bath ;  but  while  still  an  in- 
valid he  was  recalled,  in  the  dead  of  winter,  to  Holland, 
which  he  reached  after  a  stormy  and  most  uncomfort- 
able voyage;  there  to  negotiate  a  new  loan  as  the  means 
of  meeting  government  bills  drawn  in  America,  which 
Were  in  danger  of  protest  from  want  of  funds — a  busi- 
ness IN  WHICH   HE   succeeded. 

Adams  was  included  along  with  Franklin  and  Jeffer- 
son, the  latter  sent  out  to  take  the  x)lace  of  Jay,  in  a  new 
commission  to  form  treaties  with  foreign  powers  ;  and 
his  being  joined  by  Mrs.  Adams  and  their  only  daughtei' 
and  youngest  son,  his  other  two  sons  being  already  with 
him,  reconciled  him  to  the  idea  of  remaining  abroad. 

With  his  family  about  him  he  fixed  his  residence  at 
Auteuil,  near  Paris,  where  he  had  an  interval  of  com- 
parative leisure. 

The  chief  business  of  the  new  commission  was  the 
negotiation  of  a  treaty  with  Prussia,  advances  toward 
which  had  first  been  made  to  Adams  while  at  the  Hague 
negotiating  the  Dutch  loan,  but  before  that  treaty  was 
ready  for  signature  Adams  w^as  appointed  by  congress  as 
Minister  to  the  court  of  St.  James,  where  he  arrived  in 
May,  1785.  The  English  government,  the  feelings  of 
which  were  well  represented  by  those  of  the  king,  had 
neither  the  magnanimity  nor  policy  to  treat  the  new 
American  States  with  respect,  generosity,  or  justice. 
Adams  was  received  with  civility,  but  no  commercial 
arrangements  could  be  made.  His  chief  employment 
was  in  complaining  of  the  non-execution  of  the  treaty  of 
peace,  especially  in  relation  to  the  non-surrender  of  the 
western  posts,  and  in  attempting  to  meet  similar  com- 
plaints urged,  not  without  strong  grounds,  by  the  British. 


FROM  OBSCUKITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.         147 

more  particularly  with  regard  to  the  obstacles  thrown  in 
the  way  of  the  collection  of  British  debts,  which  were 
made  an  excuse  for  the  detention  of  the  western 
posts.  Made  sensible  in  many  ways  of  the  aggravation 
of  British  feelings  toward  the  new  republic,  whose  con- 
dition immediately  after  the  peace  was  somewhat  em- 
barrassing, and  not  so  flattering  as  it  might  have  been 
to  the  advocates  and  promoters  of  the  revolution,  the 
situation  of  Adams  was  rather  mortifying  than  agreeable. 

Meanwhile  he  was  obliged  to  pay  another  visit  to 
Holland  to  negotiate  a  new  loan  as  a  means  of  paying 
the  interest  on  the  Dutch  debt.  He  was  also  engaged  in 
a  corespondence  with  his  fellow-commissioner,  Mr. 
Jefferson,  then  at  Paris,  on  the  subject  of  the  Barbary 
powe^and  the  return  of  the  Americans  held  captive  by 
them.  But  his  most  engrossing  occupation  at  this  time 
was  the  preparation  of  his  "Defence  of  the  American 
Constitution,"  the  object  of  which  was  the  justification 
of  balanced  governments  and  a  division  of  powers,  es- 
pecially the  legislative,  against  the  idea  of  a  single  as- 
sembly and  a  pure  democracy,  which  had  begun  to  find 
many  advocates,  especially  on  the  continent.  The  greater 
part,  however,  of  this  book — the  most  voluminous  of  his 
publications — consists  of  summaries  of  the  histories  of 
the  Italian  republics,  which,  by  the  way,  was  not  essen- 
tial to  the  argument. 

Although  it  afterward  subjugated  the  author  to 
charges  of  monarchical  and  anti-republican  tendencies, 
this  book  was  not  without  its  influence  on  the  adoption 
of  the  federal  constitution;  during  the  discussion  of 
which  the  first  volume  appeared.  Great  Britain  not  hav- 
ing reciprocated  the  compliment  by  sending  a  minister 
to  the  United  States,  and  there  being  no  prospects  of  his 


148  HIDDEN    TREASURES. 

accomplishing  any  of  the  objects  of  his  mission,  Adams 
had  requested  a  recall,  which  was  sent  to  him  in  Febru- 
ary, 1788,  accompanied  by  a  resolution  of  Congress  con- 
veying the  thanks  of  that  body  for  ^  The  patriotism,  per- 
severance, integrity  and  dilligence'  which  he  had  dis- 
played in  his  ten  ^/ears'  experience  abroad. 

Immediately  upon  his  arrival  at  home,  Mr.  Adams 
was  RE-APPOiNTED  by  Massachusetts  as  a  delegate  to  the 
continental  congress;  but  he  never  resumed  his  seat  in 
that  body,  which  was  now  just  about  to  expire.  When 
the  new  government  came  to  be  organized  under  the 
newly  adopted  constitution,  as  all  were  agreed  to  make 
"Washington  president,  attention  was  turned  to  New 
England  for  a  vice-president.  This  office  was  then  held 
with  much  more  regard  than  now.  In  fact,  as  the  con- 
stitution originally  stood,  the  candidates  for  the  presi- 
dency and  vice-presidency  were  voted  for  without  any 
distinct  specification  as  to  rank,  the  second  office  falling 
to  the  person  having  the  second  highest  vote.  Out  of 
sixty-nine  electors,  John  Adams  received  the  votes  of 
thirty-four  ;  and  this  being  the  second  highest  number, 
he  was  declared  vice-president.  The  thirty-five  votes 
were  scattered  upon  some  ten  different  other  candidates. 

By  virtue  of  his  new  office  he  became  xn'eeident  of 
the  senate,  a  position  not  very  agreeable  to  his  active 
and  leading  temperament,  being  better  fitted  for  debate ; 
but  one  in  which  the  close  division  in  the  senate,  often 
resuhing  in  a  tie  between  the  supporters  and  opponents 
of  the  new  system,  many  times  gave  him  a  controlling 
voice.  In  the  first  congress,  he  gave  no  fewer  than 
twenty  deciding  votes,  always  upon  important  organic 
laws,  and  always  in  support  of  Washington's  policy. 

Down  to  this  time  Adams    had  sympathized  with 


FROM  OBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.  149 

Jefferson  politically,  with  whom  he  had  served  both  in 
congress  and  abroad.  On  the  subject  of  the  French 
revolution,  which  now  burst  upon  the  world,  a  difference 
of  opinion  arose  between  them.  From  the  very  begin- 
ning Adams,  then  almost  alone,  had  argued  that  no  good 
could  come  from  that  movement, — as  the  revolution 
went  on  and  began  to  break  out  in  excesses,  others  began 
to  be  of  this  opinion. 

Adams  then  gave  public  expression  to  some  of  his  ideas 
by  the  publication  of  his  ^Discourses  on  Davila,'  furnished 
to  a  Philadelphia  paper,  and  afterward  collected  and 
published  in  one  volume, — taking  the  history  of  nations, 
particularly  Davilla's  account  of  the  French  civil  wars, 
and  the  general  aspects  of  human  society  as  his  texts, 

Adams  pointed  out  as  the  great  springs  of  human 
activity, — at  least  in  all  that  related  to  politics, — the 
love  of  superiority,  the  desire  of  distinction,  admiration 
and  applause;  nor,  in  his  opinion  could  any  government 
be  permanent  or  secure  which  did  not  provide  as  well 
foi  the  reasonable  gratification,  as  for  the  due  restraint 
of  this  powerful  passion.  Repudiating  that  democracy, 
pure  and  simple,  then  coming  into  vogue,  and  of  which 
Jefferson  was  the  advocate;  he  insisted  that  a  certain 
mixture  of  aristocracy  and  monarchy  was  necessary  to 
that  balance  of  interests  and  sentiments  without  which, 
as  he  believed,  free  governments  should  not  exist.  This 
work,  which  reproduced  more  at  length  and  in  a  more 
obnoxious  form  the  fundamental  ideas  of  his  ^Defence 
of  the  American  Constitution,'  made  Adams  a  great  bug- 
bear to  the  ultra-democratic  supporters  of  the  principles 
and  policy  of  the  French  revolutionists;  and  at  the 
second  presidential  election  in  1792,  they  set  up  as  a  can- 


150  HIDDEN   TREASURES. 

didate  against  him  George  Clinton,  of  New  York,  but 
Mr.  Adams  was  re-elected  by  a  decided  vote. 

The  wise  policy  of  neutrality  adopted  by  Washington 
received  the  hearty  concurrence  of  Adams.  While  Jeffer- 
son left  the  cabinet  to  become  in  nominal  retirement  the 
leader  of  the  opposition.  Adams  continued,  as  vice-presi- 
dent, to  give  Washington's  adminstration  the  benefit  of 
his  deciding  vote.  It  was  only  by  this  means  that  a 
neutrality  act  was  carried  through  the  senate,  and  that 
the  progress  was  stopped  of  certain  resolutions  vfhich 
had  previously  passed  in  the  House  of  Representatives, 
embodying  restrictive  measures  against  Great  Britain, 
intended,  or  at  least  calculated,  to  counterwork  the  mis- 
sion to  England  on  which  Mr.  Jay  had  already  been  sent. 

Washington  being  firmly  resolved  to  retire  at  the 
close  of  his  second  presidential  term,  the  question  of  the 
successorship  now  presented  itself.  Jefferson  was  the 
leader  of  the  opposition,  who  called  themselves  repub- 
licans, the  name  democrat  being  yet  in  bad  odor,  and 
though  often  imposed  as  a  term  of  reproach,  not  yet  as- 
sumed except  by  a  few  of  the  more  ultra-partisans. 
Hamilton  was  the  leader  of  the  federal  party,  as  the  sup- 
porters of  Washington's  administration  had  styled  them- 
selves. 

Though  Hamilton's  zeal  and  energy  had  made  him, 
even  while  like  Jefferson  in  nominal  retirement,  the 
leader  of  his  party,  he  could  hardly  be  said  to  hold  the 
place  with  the  Federalists  that  Jefferson  did  with  the  Re- 
publicans. Either  Adams  or  Jay,  from  their  age  and  long 
diplomatic  service,  were  more  justly  entitled  to  public 
honor  and  were  more  conspicuously  before  the  people. 
Hamilton,  though  he  had  always  spoken  of  Adams  as  a 
man  of  unconquerable  intrepidity  and  incorruptible  in 


FROM  OBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.         151 

tegrity,  and  as  such  had  already  twice  supported  him  for 
vice-president,  would  yet  have  much  preferred  Jay. 

The  position  of  Adams  was,  however,  such  as  to 
render  his  election  far  more  probable  than  that  of  Jay, 
and  to  determine  on  his  selection  as  candidate  of  the 
Federalist  party.  Jay,  by  his  negotiation  of  the  famous 
treaty  which  bears  his  name,  had  for  the  moment  called 
down  upon  himself  the  hostility  of  its  numerous  oppo- 
nents. Adams  stood,  moreover,  as  vice-president,  in  the 
line  of  promotion,  and  was  more  sure  of  the  New  Eng- 
land vote,  which  was  absolutely  indispensible  to  the 
success  of  either. 

As  one  of  the  candidates  was  taken  from  the  North, 
it  seemed  best  to  select  the  other  from  the  South,  and 
the  selection  of  Thomas  Pickney,  of  South  Carolina,  was 
the  result  of  this  decision.  Indeed,  there  were  some, 
Hamilton  among  the  number,  who  secretly  vnshed  that 
Pickney  might  receive  the  larger  vote  of  the  two,  and  so 
be  chosen  president  over  Adams'  head.  This  result  was 
almost  sure  to  happen, — from  the  likelihood  of  Pick- 
ney's  receiving  more  votes  at  the  South  than  Adams, 
as  he  really  did, — could  the  nothern  federal  electors  be 
persuaded  to  vote  equally  for  Adams  and  Pickney,  which 
Hamilton  labored  to  effect. 

The  fear,  however,  that  Pickney  might  be  chosen  over 
Adams  led  to  the  withholding  from  Pickney  of  eighteen 
New  England  votes,  so  that  the  result  was  not  only  to 
make  Jefferson  Vice-President,  as  having  more  votes 
than  Pickney,  but  also  to  excite  prejudices  and  sus- 
picions in  the  mind  of  Adams  against  Hamilton,  which, 
being  reciprocated  by  him,  led  to  the  disruption  and 
final  overthrow  of  the  Federal  party. 

It  had  almost  happened,  such  was  the  equal  division 


152  HIDDEN   TEEASUEES. 

of  parties,  that  Jefferson  had  this  time  been  elected 
President.  The  election  of  Adams,  who  had  71  votes  to 
Jefferson's  68,  only  being  secured  by  two  stray  votes  cast 
for  him,  one  in  Virginia,  and  the  other  in  North  Caro- 
lina, tributes  of  revolutionary^  reminiscences  and  per- 
sonal esteem.  Chosen  by  this  slender  majority,  Mr. 
Adams  succeeded  to  office  at  a  very  dangerous  and  ex- 
citing crisis  in  affairs.  The  progress  of  the  French 
revolution  had  superinduced  upon  previous  party  divis- 
ions a  new  and  vehement  crisis. 

Jefferson's  supporters,  who  sympathized  very  warmly 
with  the  French  Eepublic,  gave  their  moral,  if  not  their 
positive  support,  to  the  claim  set  up  by  its  rulers,  but 
which  Washington  had  refused  to  admit,  that  under  the 
provisions  of  the  French  treaty  of  alliance,  the  United 
States  were  bound  to  support  France  against  Great 
Britain,  at  least  in  defense  of  her  West  India  posses- 
sions. The  other  party,  the  supporters  of  Adams,  upheld 
the  policy  of  neutrality  adopted  by  Washington. 

At  the  same  time  that  Washington  had  sent  Jay 
to  England,  to  arra.nge,  if  possible,  the  pending  diffi- 
culties with  that  country;  he  had  recalled  Morris 
who,  as  Minister  to  France,  had  made  himself  obnoxious 
to  the  now  predominent  party  there,  and  had  appointed 
Monroe  in  his  place.  This  gentleman,  instead  of  con- 
forming to  his  instructions,  and  attempting  to  reconcile 
France  to  Jay's  mission,  had  given  them  assurance  on 
the  subject  quite  in  contradiction  of  the  treaty  as  made, 
both  the  formation  and  ratification  of  which  he  had  done 
his  best  to  defeat.  11(5,  in  consequence,  had  been  re- 
called by  Washington  shortly  before  the  close  of  his 
term  of  office,  and  C.  C.  Pickney,  a  brother  of  Thomas 
Pickney,  had  been  appointed  in  his  place.     The  French 


FROM  OBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.         158 

authorities,  offended  at  this  change,  and  the  ratification 
of  Jay's  treaty  in  spite  of  their  remonstrances,  while 
they  dismissed  Monroe  with  great  ovations,  refused  to 
receive  the  new  embassador  sent  in  his  place,  at  the 
same  time  issuing  decrees  and  orders  highly  injurious  to 
American  interests. 

Almost  the  first  act  of  Mr.  Adams,  as  President,  was 
to  call  an  extra  session  of  Congress.  Not  only  was  a 
war  with  France  greatly  to  be  dreaded  and  deprecated  on 
account  of  her  great  military  and  naval  power,  but  still 
more  on  account  of  the  very  formidable  party  which, 
among  the  ultra-Republicans,  she  could  muster  within 
the  States  themselves.  Under  these  circumstances,  the 
measure  resolved  upon  by  Adams  and  his  cabinet  was 
the  appointment  of  a  new  and  more  solemn  commission 
to  France,  composed  of  Pickney  and  two  colleagues,  for 
which  purpose  the  President  appointed  John  Marshall 
of  Virginia,  and  Elbridge  Gerry  of  Massachusetts, 

Instead  of  receiving  and  openly  treating  with  those 
commissioners,  Talleyrand,  lately  an  exile  in  America, 
but  now  Secretary  of  Foreign  Affairs  to  the  French  Gov- 
ernment, entered  into  intrigue  with  them,  through  sev- 
eral unaccredited  and  unofficial  agents,  of  which  the 
object  was  to  induce  them  to  promise  a  round  bribe  to 
the  directors  and  a  large  sum  of  money  to  fill  the  ex- 
hausted French  treasury,  by  way  of  purchasing  forbear- 
ance. As  Pickney  and  Marshall  appeared  less  pliable 
than  Gerry,  Talleyrand  finally  obliged  them  to  leave, 
after  which  he  attempted,  though  still  without  success, 
to  extract  money,  or  at  least  the  promise  of  it,  from 
Gerry. 

The  publication  of  the  dispatches  in  which  these  dis- 
creditible  intrigues  were  disclosed,   an  event  on  which 


154  HIDDEN    TREASURES. 

Tallevrand  had  not  calculated,  produced  a  great  excite^ 
ment  in  both  America  and  Europe.  Talleyrand  attempted 
to  escape  by  disavowing  his  agents,  and  pretending  that 
the  American  ministers  had  been  imposed  upon  by  ad- 
venturers.  Gerry  left  France,  and  the  violation  of 
American  commercial  and  maritime  rights  was  pushed 
to  new  extremes.  In  America  the  effect  of  all  of  this 
was  to  greatly  strengthen  the  Federal  party  for  the  time 
being. 

The  grand  jury  of  the  federal  circuit  court  for  Penn- 
sylvania set  the  example  of  an  address  to  the  president, 
applauding  his  manly  stand  for  the  rights  and  dignity 
of  the  nation.  Philadelphia,  which  under  the  lead  of  Mifflin 
and  McKean,  had  gone  over  to  the  Republicans,  was  once 
more  suddenly  converted  as  duringWashington's  first  term 
to  the  support  of  the  federal  government.  That  city  w^as 
then  the  seat  of  the  national  newspaper  press.  All  the 
newspapers,  hitherto  neutral,  published  there,  as  well  as 
several  others  which  had  leaned  decidedly  toward  the 
opposition,  now  came  out  in  behalf  of  Adams. 

Besides  an  address  from  five  thousand  citizens,  the 
young  men  got  up  an  address  of  their  own.  This  exam- 
ple was  speedily  imitated  all  over  the  country,  and  the 
spirited  replies  of  the  president,  who  was  now  in  his  ele- 
ment, served  in  their  turn  to  blow  up  and  keep  ablaze 
the  patriotic  enthusiasm  of  his  countrymen.  These  ad- 
dresses, circulated  everywhere  in  the  newspapers,  were 
collected  at  the  time  in  a  voliune,  and  they  appeared  in 
Adams'  works,  of  w^hich  they  form  a  characteristic  por- 
tion. A  navy  was  set  on.  foot,  the  old  continental  navy 
having  become  extinct.  An  army  was  voted  and  partlj 
levied,   of  which  Washington   accepted  the  chief  com- 


FROM  OBSCURITY  TO  FREAT  HONOR.         155 

mand,   and  merchant  ships  were  authorized  to  protect 
themselves. 

The  treaty  with  France  was  declared  at  an  end,  and 
a  quasi  war  with  France  ensued.  It  was  not,  however, 
the  policy  of  France  to  drive  the  United  States  into  the 
arms  of  Great  Britain.  Even  before  Gerry's  departure, 
Talleyrand  had  made  advances  tending  toward  reconcil- 
iation, which  were  afterward  renewed  by  communica- 
tions opened  with  Van  Murray,  the  American  minister  to 
Holland.  The  effect  of  the  French  outrages,  and  the 
progress  of  the  French  revolution  had  been  to  create  in 
a  part  of  the  federal  party,  at  least,  a  desire  for  an  abso- 
lute breach  with  France — a  desire  felt  by  Hamilton,  and 
by  at  least  three  out  of  the  four  cabinet  officers  whom 
Adams  had  chosen  and  kept  in  office. 

In  his  message  to  congress,  announcing  the  expulsion 
of  Pickney  and  Marshall,  Adams  had  declared  that  he 
would  never  send  another  minister  to  France  without  as- 
surance that  he  would  be  received.  This  was  on  the  21st  of 
July,  1798.  Therefore,whenonthe  ISthof  February  follow- 
ing, without  consulting  his  cabinet  or  giving  them  any 
intimation  of  his  intentions,  he  sent  into  the  senate  the 
nomination  of  Van  Murray  as  minister  to  France,  the 
act  took  the  country  by  surprise,  and  thus  hastened  the 
defeat  of  the  federal  party,  his  actions  being  so  contrary 
to  his  avowed  intentions.  Some  previous  acts  of  Adams, 
such  as  the  appointment  of  Gerry,  which  his  cabinet  offi- 
cers had  striven  to  prevent,  and  his  disinclination  to 
make  Hamilton  second  in  command,  until  vehemently 
iirged  into  it  by  Washington,  had  strengthened  the  dis- 
trust entertained  of  Adams  by  Hamilton. 

Adams,  in  his  attempt  to  reopen  diplomatic  inter- 
course with  France,  was  accused  of  seeking  to  reconcile 


156  HIDDEN    TREASURES. 

his  political  opponents  of  the  Eepublican  party,  and  thus 
secure  by  unworthy  and  impolitic  concessions,  his  own 
re-election  as  president.  The  opposition  to  Van  Mur- 
ray's nomination  prevailed  so  far  that  he  received  two 
colleagues,  Ellsworth  of  Connecticut  and  Davies  of  North 
Carolina;  but  the  president  would  not  authorize  the 
departure  of  Ellsworth  or  Davies  until  he  had  received 
explicit  assurances  from  Talleyrand  that  they  would  be 
duly  received  as  ministers.  On  arriving  in  France  they 
found  the  Directory  superseded  by  Napoleon  Bonaparte 
who  was  first  counsel,  with  whom  they  managed  to  ar- 
range the  difficulty. 

But,  however  beneficial  to  the  country,  this  mission 
proved  very  disastrous  to  Adams  personally,  and  to  the 
political  party  to  which  he  belonged.  He  justified  its 
appointment  on  the  ground  of  assurances  conveyed  to 
him  through  a  variety  of  channels  that  France  desired 
peace,  and  he  excused  himself  for  his  not  having  con- 
sulted his  cabinet  by  the  fact  that  he  knew  their  mind 
without  asking  it — to  be  decidedly  hostile,  that  is,  to  any 
such  attempt  as  he  had  decided  to  make. 

The  masses  of  the  federalists,  fully  confident  of  Adams' 
patriotism,  were  well  enough  disposed  to  acquiesce  in  his 
judgment;  but  many  of  the  leaders  were  implacable. 
The  quarrel  was  further  aggravated  by  Adams'  dismissal 
of  his  cabinet  officers  and  the  construction  of  a  new 
cabinet. 

The  pardon  of  Fries,  who  had  been  convicted  of 
treason  for  armed  resistance  to  the  levy  of  certain  direct 
taxes  in  Pennsylvania,  was  regarded  by  many  at  that 
time  as  a  piece  of  misplaced  lenity  on  the  part  of  Adams, 
dictated,  it  was  said,  by  a  mean  desire  of  popularity  in  a 
case  where    the    severest    example  was    needed.    But 


FROM  OBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.         157 

Adams  can  hardly  suffer  with  posterity  from  his  unwill- 
ingness to  be  the  first  president  to  sign  a  death  warrant 
for  treason,  especially  as  there  was  room  for  grave  doubts 
whether  the  doings  of  this  person  amounted  to  treason 
as  defined  by  the  constitution  of  the  United  States. 

In  this  divided  condition  of  the  Federal  party  the 
presidential  election  came  on.  Adams  was  still  too 
popular  with  the  mass  of  the  party  to  think  of  dropping 
him  altogether,  and  the  malcontents  reduced  to  the  old 
expedient  of  attempting,  by  secret  understanding  and 
arrangements,  to  reduce  his  vote  in  the  electoral  college 
below  that  of  C.  C.  Pickney,  the  other  candidate  on  the 
federal  ticket. 

The  Republicans,  on  the  other  hand,  under  the  pros- 
pect of  an  arrangement  with  France,  rapidly  recovered 
from  the  blow  inflicted  upon  them  by  the  violence  and 
mercenary  rapacity  lately  charged  upon  their  French 
friends,  but  which  they  now  insisted,  was  a  charge  with- 
out foundation.  Taking  advantage  of  the  dissatisfaction 
at  the  heavy  taxes  necessarily  imposed  to  meet  the  ex- 
penses of  warlike  preparations,  and  especially  of  the  un- 
popularity of  the  alien  and  sedition  laws — ^two  acts  of 
congress  to  which  the  prospect  of  war  had  led — they 
pushed  the  canvass  with  great  energy ;  while  in  Thomas 
Jefferson  and  Aaron  Burr  they  had  two  leaders  unsur- 
passed for  skill  in  party  tactics,  and  in  Burr  at  least,  one 
little  scrupulous  as  to  the  means  to  be  used. 

Not  only  was  the  whole  blame  of  the  alien  and  sedi- 
tion acts,  to  which  he  had  merely  assented  without  even 
recommending,  laid  on  Adams'  shoulders,  but  he  was  the 
object  of  vehement  and  most  bitter  attacks  for  having 
surrendered,  under  one  of  the  provisions  of  Jay's  treaty, 
one   Thomas    Nash,   an    English    sailor,   charged  with 


158    •  HIDDEN   TREASURES. 

mutiny  and  murder.  IsTor  was  it  against  his  public  acts 
alone,  nor  even  to  his  political  opponents,  that  these  as- 
saults on  Mr.  Adams  were  confined.  With  strong  feeling 
and  busy  imagination,  loving  both  to  talk  and  write, 
Adams  had  been  betrayed  into  many  confidences  and  in- 
to free  expressions  of  feeling,  opinions,  and  even  conjec- 
tures and  suspicions — a  weakness  very  unsuited  to  the 
character  of  a  statesman,  and  one  which  Adams  had 
during  his  life  many  times  the  occasion  to  rue. 

DuringWashington's  first  term  of  office,  Adams  had  thus 
been  led  into  a  confidential  correspondence  with  Tench 
Coxe,  who  at  that  time  held  the  position  of  assistant 
secretary  of  the  treasury  and  had  afterward  been  ap- 
Xoointed  supervisor  of  the  internal  revenue.  Since  Adam's 
accession  he  had  been  dismissed  from  his  place  on  the 
charge  of  being  a  spy  upon  the  treasury  department  in 
the  service  of  the  Aurora,  the  principal  newspaper  organ 
of  the  opposition, — with  which  pai-ty  Coxe  sympathized, 
and,  since  his  recent  dismissal  from  office,  acted. 

In  this  state  of  mind  Coxe  betrayed  a  confidential 
letter  to  him  from  Adams;  which,  after  being  handed 
around  in  manuscript  for  some  time,  to  the  great  damage 
of  Adams  with  his  own  party,  was"  finally  printed  in  the 
Aurora,  of  which  Coxe  had  become  one  of  the  principal 
contributors. 

The  purport  of  this  letter,  written  as  long  ago  as 
May,  1792,  was  to  give  countenance  to  the  charge  of  the 
opposition  that  Washington's  cabinet,  and  of  course 
Adams'  which  followed  the  same  policy,  was  under  Brit- 
ish influence ;  and  that  the  Pickney  brothers,  candidates 
with  Adams  on  the  presidential  ticket,  were  especially 
liable  to  this  suspicion.  The  publication  of  this  letter 
was  followed  by  a  still  more  deadly  blow  in  the  shape  of 


■s. 


FROM  OBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.         159 

XI  pranplilet,  written,  printed  and  signed  by  Hamilton, — 
probably  intended  by  him  for  private  distribution  among 
bis  friends,  but  which  was  made  public  by  Aaron  Burr, 
who  had  succeed  in  obtaining  some  of  the  proof  sheets. 

This  phamphlet  had  its  origin  in  the  same  charge 
against  Hamilton  of  being  under  the  influence  of  British 
gold,  thrown  out  by  Adams  in  private  conversation.  To 
this  he  had  refused  to  give  any  explanation  when  written 
to  by  Hamilton,  though  when  a  similar  request  was  made 
by  C.  C.  Pickney  in  conseqence  of  the  publication  of  the 
letter  to  Coxe,  Adams  fully  exonerated,  in  a  published 
letter,  both  Pickney  and  his  brother  from  any  suspicion 
which  his  letter  to  Coxe  might  seem  calculated  to  convey. 

Hamilton  declared  in  the  conclusion  of  his  pamphlet 
that,  as  things  then  stood,  he  did  not  recommend  the 
withholding  of  a  single  vote  from  Adams.  Yet,  it  was 
the  leading  object  of  his  pamphlet  to  show,  without  deny- 
ing Adams'  patriotism  or  integrity,  or  even  his  talents, 
that  he  had  great  defects  of  character  which  disqualified 
him  for  the  position  of  chief  magistrate,  and  the  effect 
which  he  desired  it  to  have  must  have  been  to  give  C.  C. 
Pickney  the  presidency,  by  causing  a  certain  number  of 
votes  to  be  withheld  from  Adams. 

The  result  of  the  election,  however,  was  to  throw  out 
both  the  federal  candidates,  while  Adams  receiving  forty- 
five  votes  and  Pickney  fifty-four ;  Jefferson  and  Burr 
each  received  seventy-three.  In  the  ensuing  struggle 
between  Jefferson  and  Burr,  Adams  took  no  part  what- 
ever. Immediately  on  the  expiration  of  his  term  of 
office  he  left  Washington,  where  shortly  before  the  seat 
of  government  had  been  moved,  without  even  stopping 
to  be  present  at  the  inauguration  of  Jefferson,  against 
whom  he  felt  a  sense  of  personal  wrong,  probably  think- 


160  HIDDEN    TREASURES. 

ing  he  had  been  deluded  by  false  professions  as  to  Jeffer- 
son's views  on  the  presidential  chair. 

Though  both  were  much  given  to  letter-writing,  and 
had  to  within  a  short  time  before  been  on  terms  of 
friendly  intercourse,  this  state  of  feelings,  on  the  part  of 
Adams,  led  to  strict  non-intercourse  for  the  next  thir- 
teen years.  The  only  acknowledgment  which  Adams 
carried  with  him,  in  this  unwelcome  and  mortifying  re- 
tirement for  his  twenty-five  years'  services  was  the  priv- 
ilege, which  had  been  granted  to  Washington  on  his 
withdrawal  from  the  presidency,  and  after  his  death  to 
his  widow,  and  bestowed  likewise  Mpoi\  all  subsequent 
ex-presidents  and  their  widows,  -of  receiving  his  letters 
free  of  postage  for  the  remainder  of  his  life. 

Fortunately  for  Adams,  his  thrifty  habits  and  love  of 
independence,  sustained  during  his  absence  from  home 
by  the  economical  and  managing  talents  of  his  wife,  had 
enabled  him  to  add  to  what  he  had  saved  from  his  pro- 
fession before  entering  public  life,  savings  from  his  sala- 
ries, enough  to  make  up  a  sufficient  property  to  support 
him  for  the  remainder  of  his  life,  in  conformity  with  his 
ideas  of  a  decent  style  of  propriety  and  solid  comfort. 
Almost  all  his  savings  he  had  invested  in  the  farming 
lands  about  liim.  In  his  vocabulary,  property  meant 
land.  With  all  the  rapid  wealth  then  being  made  through 
trade  and  navigation,  he  had  no  confidence  in  the  per- 
manency of  any  property  but  land,  views  in  which  he  was 
confirmed  by  t-he   commercial  revulsions  of  which  he 

lived  to  be  a  witness. 

Adams  was  the  possessor,  partly  by  inheritance  and 
partly  by  purchase,  of  his  father's  fann,  including  the 
house  in  which  he  him^lf  was  born.  He  had,  however, 
transferred  his  own  residence  to  a  larger  and  handsomer 


FROM  OBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.         161 

dwelling  near  by,  which  had  been  forfeited  by  one  of  the 
refugee  tories  of  the  revolution  and  purchased  by  him, 
where  he  spent  the  next  quarter  of  a  century. 

In  this  comfortable  home,  acquired  by  himself,  he 
sought  consolation  for  his  troubled  spirit  in  the  cultiva- 
tion of  his  lands,  in  books  and  in  the  bosom,  of  his  family. 
Mrs.  Adams,  to  her  capacities  as  a  house-keeper,  steward 
and  farm  manager,  added  a  brightness  and  activity  of 
mind  and  a  range  of  reading,  such  as  fully  qualified  her 
to  sympathize  with  her  husband  in  his  public  as  v/ell  as 
his  private  carreer.  She  shared  his  tastes  for  books,  and 
as  his  letters  to  her  are  unsurpassed  by  any  American 
letters  ever  yet  published,  so  hers  to  him,  as  well  as  to 
others,  from  which  a  selection  has  also  been  published, 
show  her,  though  exhibiting  less  of  nature  and  more 
of  formality  than  he,  yet  worthy  of  admiration  and  re- 
spect as  well  as  of  the  tenderness  with  which  he  always 
regarded  her. 

To  affections  strong  enough  to  respond  to  his,  a  sym- 
pathy equal  to  his  highest  aspirations,  a  proud  feeling 
and  an  enjoyment  of  it  equal  to  his  own,  she  added  what 
is  not  always  found  in  such  company,  a  flexibility  suffi- 
cient to  jdeld  to  his  stronger  will  without  disturbance  to 
her  serenitj^  or  his,  and  without  the  least  compromise 
of  her  own  dignity  or  her  husband's  respect  and  deference 
for  her.  While  she  was  not  ignorant  of  the  foiables  of  his 
character,  and  knew  how  to  avail  herself  of  them  when 
a  good  purpose  was  to  be  served  by  it,  yet  her  admiration 
of  his  abilities,  her  reliance  upon  his  judgment,  her  con- 
fidence in  his  goodness,  and  her  pride  in  his  achieve- 
ments, made  her  always  ready  to  yield  and  to  conform. 
His  happiness  and  honor  were  always  her  leading  object 


162  HIDDEN    TREASURES. 

This  union  was  blessed  with  children  well  calculated  to 
add  to  this  happiness. 

Just  at  the  moment  of  his  retirement  from  office 
private  grief  was  added  to  political  disappointment  by 
the  death  of  his  second  son  Charles,  who  had  grown  to 
manhood,  had  been  married  and  had  settled  in  New 
York  with  flattering  prospects,  but  had  died  under  pain- 
ful circumstances,  which  his  father  speaks  of  in  a  con- 
temporary letter  as  the  deepest  affliction  of  his  life,  leav- 
ing a  wife  and  two  infant  children  dependent  on  him. 
Colonel  Smith,  an  officer  of  the  revolution,  who  had  been 
Adams'  secretary  of  legation  at  London  and  who  had 
married  his  only  daughter,  did  not  prove  in  all  respects 
such  a  son-in-law  as  he  would  have  wished.  Smith's 
pecuniary  affairs  becoming  embarrassed,  his  father-in- 
law  had  provided  for  him  by  several  public  appoint- 
ments, the  last  of  which  was  that  of  the  surveyor  of  New 
York,  which  position  he  was  allowed  to  hold  until  1807, 
when  he  was  removed  from  it  in  consequence  of  his  im- 
plication in  Miranda's  expedition.  Nor  did  Thomas,  the 
third  son,  though  a  xDcrson  of  accomplishments  and 
talents,  fully  answer  the  hopes  of  his  parents. 

But  all  these  disappointments  were  more  than  made 
good  by  the  eldest  son,  John  Quincy,  who  subsequently 
to  his  recall  from  the  diplomatic  service  abroad,  into 
which  Washington  had  introduced  him  and  in  which  his 
father, urged  by Washington,had  promoted  him, was  chosen 
one  of  the  senators  in  congress  from  Massachusetts. 

All  consolations,  domestic  or  otherwise,  at  Mr.  Adam's 
command,  were  fully  needed.  Never  did  a  statesman 
sink  more  suddenly, — at  a  time  too  when  his  powers  of 
action  and  inclinations  for  it  seemed  unimpaired — from  a 
leading  position  to  more  absolute  political  insignificance. 


FROM  OBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.  163 

His  grandson  tells  us  that  while  the  letters  addressed  to 
him  in  the  year  prior  to  March  1st,  1801,  may  be  counted 
by  the  thousands,  those  of  the  next  year  scarcely  num- 
bered a  hundred,  while  he  wrote  even  less  than  he  re- 
ceived. Nor  was  mere  neglect  the  worst  of  it.  He  sank, 
loaded  with  the  jibes,  the  sneers,  the  execrations  even, 
of  both  political  parties  into  which  the  nation  was 
divided.  In  his  correspondence,  which  appears  to  have 
gradually  increased  and  extended  itself,  Mr.  Adams  loved 
to  re-explain  his  theoretical  ideas  of  government,  on  some 
points  of  which  he  pushed  Jefferson  hard,  and  which  the 
result  of  the  French  revolution  so  far  as  then  developed 
seemed  to  confirm. 

Another  subject  in  which  he  continued  to  feel  a  great 
interest  was  theology.  He  had  begun  as  an  Arminian, 
and  the  more  he  had  read  and  thought,  and  the  older  he 
grew  to  be,  the  freer  views  he  took.  Though  clinging 
with  tenacity  to  the  religious  institutions  of  'New  Eng- 
land, it  would  seem  from  his  correspondence  that 
he  finally  curtailed  his  theology  to  the  ten  command- 
ments and  the  sermon  on  the  mount.  Of  his  views  on 
this  point,  he  gave  evidence  in  his  last  public  act,  to 
which  we  now  approach. 

Mrs.  Adams  had  died  in  1818,  but  even  that  shock, 
severe  as  it  was,  did  not  loosen  the  firm  grasp^of  the 
husband  on  life,  its  enjoyments  and  its  duties.  When, 
in  consequence  of  the  erection  of  the  district  <d  Maine 
into  a  State,  a  convention  was  to  meet  in  1S2Q  to  revise 
the  constitution  of  Massachusetts,  in  the  framing  of 
which  Mr.  Adams  had  taken  so  leading  a  part,  though  in 
his  eighty-sixth  year,  he  was  chosen  a  delegate  by  his 
townsmen.  Upon  his  first  appearance,  with  a  form  yet 
erect,  though  tremulous  wdth  age,  in  this  Convention, 


164  HIDDEN    TREASURES. 

which  was  comiDOsed  of  the  very  cream  of  the  great 
minds  with  which  the  State  abounded,  Mr.  Adams  was 
received  by  members  standing,  and  with  every  demon- 
stration of  affection  and  esteem ;  and  a  series  of  resolu- 
tions were  forthwith  ^Dassed,  containing  an  enumeration 
and  warm  acknowledgememt  of  some  of  his  principal 
public  services,  and  calling  on  him  to  preside.  But  this, 
while  duly  acknowledging  the  compliment,  he  declined, 
on  the  score  of  his  age  and  infirmities.  The  same  cause 
also  prevented  his  taking  any  active  part  in  the  proceed- 
ings. Yet  he  labored  to  secure  a  modification  of  the 
third  article  of  the  bill  of  rights,  on  the  subject  of  pub- 
lic worship  and  its  support,  an  article  which,  when  origin- 
ally drafting  the  rest  of  that  instrument,  he  had  passed 
over  to  other  hands. 

But  the  time  had  not  yet  come  for  such  changes  as  he 
wished.  The  old  puritan  feeling  was  still  too  great  to 
acknov/ledge  the  equal  rights,  political  and  religious,  of 
other  than  Christians.  Yet,  however  it  might  be  with 
his  colleagues  and  fellow-citizens,  Mr.  Adams,  in  this 
movement,  expressed  his  own  ideas.  One  of  his  latest 
letters,  written  in  1825,  and  addressed  to  Jefferson,  is  a 
remarkable  protest  against  the  blasphemy  laws,  so-called, 
of  Massachusetts,  and  the  rest  of  the  Union,  as  being 
utterly  inconsistent  with  the  right  of  free  inquiry  and 
private  judgment.  It  is  in  the  letters  of  Mr.  Adams,  of 
which  but  few  have  ever  been  published,  that  his  genius 
as  a  writer  and  a  thinker,  and  no  less  distinctly  his 
character  as  a  man,  is  displayed.  Down  even  to  the  last 
year  of  his  protracted  life,  his  letters  exhibit  a  wonder- 
ful degree  of  vitality,  energy,  playfulness,  and  command 
of  language. 

As  a  writer  of  English — and  we  may  add  as  a  specu- 


FROM  OBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.         165 

lative  philosopher — little  as  he  ever  troubled  himself 
with  revision  and  correction,  he  must  be  placed  first 
among  Americans  of  all  the  several  generations  to  which 
he  belonged,  excepting  only  Franklin ;  and  if  Franklin 
excelled  him  in  humor  and  geniality,  he  far  surpassed 
Franklin  in  compass  and  vivacity.  Indeed,  it  is  only  by 
the  recent  ]oublication  of  his  letters  that  his  gifts  in 
these  respects  are  becoming  well  known.  The  first 
installment  of  his  private  letters  iDublished  during  his 
lifetime,  though  not  deficient  in  these  characteristics, 
yet  having  been  written  under  feelings  of  great  aggrava- 
tion, and  in  a  spirit  of  extreme  bitterness  against  his 
political  opponents,  was  rather  damaging  to  him  than 
otherwise.  In  the  interval  from  1804  to  1812,  Mr.  Cun- 
ningham, a  maternal  relative,  had  drawn  him  into  a 
private  correspondence  in  which,  still  smarting  under  a 
sense  of  injury,  he  had  expressed  himself  with  perfect 
unreserve  and  entire  freedom  as  to  the  chief  events  of 
his  XDresidential  administration  and  the  character  and 
motives  of  the  parties  concerned  in  them. 

By  a  gross  breach  of  confidence,  of  which  Mr.  Adams, 
like  other  impulsive  and  confiding  persons,  often  had 
been  the  victim,  those  letters  were  sold  by  Cunningham's 
heir  in  1824,  while  the  vn:iter  and  many  of  the  parties 
referred  to  were  still  alive.  They  were  published  as  a 
part  of  the  electioneering  machinery  against  John 
Quincy  Adams.  They  called  out  a  violent  retort  from 
Colonel  Pickering,  who  had  been  secretary  of  State  to 
Washington  and  Adams,  till  dismissed  from  ofiice  by  the 
latter;  but  though  Mr.  Jefferson  was  also  severely 
handled  in  them,  they  occasioned  no  interruption  to  the 
friendly  relation  which  had  been  re-established  between 
him  and  Mr.  Adams. 


166  HIDDEN   TREASURES. 

Those  two  leading  actors  in  American  politics,  at  first 
so  co-operative  and  afterward  so  hostile,  again  reunited 
in  friendly  intercourse,  ha^dng  outlived  almost  all  of  their 
fellow-actors,  continued  to  descend  hand  in  hand  to  the 
grave.  Adams  lived  to  see  his  son  president,  and  to  re- 
ceive Jefferson's  congratulations  on  the  same.  By  a  re- 
markable coincidence,  they  both  expired  on  the  fiftieth 
anniversary  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  in  which 
they  both  had  taken  so  active  a  part,  Adams,  however, 
being  the  survivor  by  a  few  hours. 

Of  Adams'  personal  appearance  and  domestic  charac- 
ter in  his  old  age,  his  grandson  gives  the  following  ac- 
count :  "In  figure,  John  Adams  was  not  tall,  scarcely  ex- 
ceeding middle  height,  but  of  a  stout,  well-knit  frame, 
denoting  vigor  and  long  life,  yet  as  he  grew  old  inclining 
more  and  more  to  corpulence.  His  head  was  large  and 
round,  with  a  wide  forehead  and  expanded  brows.  His 
eye  was  mild  and  benignant,  perhaps  even  humorous 
when  he  was  free  from  emotion,  but  when  excited  it  fully 
expressed  the  vehemence  of  the  spirit  that  stirred  within. 

His  presence  was  grave  and  imposing  on  serious  oc- 
casions, but  not  unbending.  He  delighted  in  social  con- 
versation, in  which  he  was  sometimes  tempted  to  vv^hat 
he  called  rodomontade.  But  he  seldom  fatigued  those 
who  heard  him ;  for  he  mixed  so  much  of  natural  vigor 
of  fancy  and  illustration  with  the  store  of  his  acquired 
knowledge,  as  to  keep  alive  their  interest  for  a  long  time. 

His  affections  were  warm,  though  not  habitually 
demonstrated  toward  his  relatives.  His  anger,  when 
thoroughly  aroused,  was  for  a  time  extremely  violent, 
but  when  it  subsided  it  left  no  trace  of  malevolence 
behind.  Nobody  could  see  him  intimately  without 
admiring  the  simplicity  and  truth  which  shone  in  his 


FROM  OBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.         167 

actions,  and  standing  in  some  awe  of  the  power  and  en- 
ergy of  his  will.  It  was  in  these  moments  that  he  im- 
pressed those  around  him  with  a  sense  of  his  greatness. 
Even  the  men  employed  on  his  farm  were  in  the  habit  of 
citing  instances,  some  of  which  have  been  remembered 
down  to  the  present  day. 

At  times  his  vehemence  became  so  great  as  to  make 
him  overbearing  and  unjust.  This  was  apt  to  happen  in 
cases  of  pretension  and  any  kind  of  wrong-doing.  Mr. 
Adams  was  very  impatient  of  cant,  or  of  opposition  to 
any  of  his  deeply  established  convictions.  Neither  was 
his  indignation  at  all  graduated  to  the  character  of  the 
individuals  who  might  happen  to  excite  it.  He  had  lit- 
tle respect  of  persons,  and  would  hold  an  illiterate  man 
or  raw  boy  to  as  heavy  a  responsibilty  for  uttering  a 
crude  heresy,  as  the  strongest  thinker  or  the  most  pro- 
found scholar. 

The  same  writer  makes  the  following  remarks  on  his 
general  character  :  "  His  nature  was  too  susceptible  to 
emotions  of  sympathy  and  kindness,  for  it  tempted  him 
to  trust  more  than  was  prudent  in  the  professions  of 
some  who  proved  unworthy  of  his  confidence.  Ambi- 
tious in  one  sense  he  certainly  was,  but  it  was  not  the 
mere  aspiration  for  place  or  power.  It  was  a  desire  to 
excel  in  the  minds  of  men  by  the  development  of  high 
qualities,  the  love,  in  short,  of  an  honorable  fame,  that 
stirred  him  to  exult  in  the  rewards  of  popular  favor.  Tet 
this  passion  never  tempted  him  to  change  a  course  of 
action  or  to  suppress  a  serious  conviction,  to  bend  to  a 
IDrevailing  error  or  to  disavow  one  odious  truth." 

In  these  last  assertions  we  do  not  fully  concur.  They 
involve  some  controverted  points  of  history;  however, 


168  HIDDEN   TREASURES. 

they  may  be  made  with  far  more  plausibility  of  Mr. 
Adams  than  of  the  greater  portion  of  political  men. 

There  is  much  in  the  life  of  John  Adams  worthy  of 
careful  consideration.  He  rose  from  poverty  to  distinc- 
tion; he  was  a  capable  man,  capable  of  filling  the  highest 
place  in  the  estimation  of  his  posterity,  yet  his  serious 
faults  led  to  his  political  ruin.  The  careful  perusal  of 
his  life  mil  enable  one  to  understand  the  principles  of 
the  two  great  parties  of  to-day,  modified  though  they  be, 
the  fundamental  principles  remaining  the  same. 


Thomas  Jefferson, 


THE  subject  of  this  narrative  was  born  in  Virginia,  in 
the  year  1743,  on  the  2nd  day  of  April.  As  young 
Jefferson  was  born  to  affluence  and  was  bountifully 
blessed  with  all  the  educational  advantages  which  wealth 
will  bring,  many  of  our  young  readers  may  say — well,  I 
could  succeed,  j)erhaps,  had  I  those  advantages.  We  will 
grant  that  you  could  provided  you  took  means  similar  to 
those  used  by  Jefferson,  for  while  we  must  admit  that  all 
cannot  be  Jeffersons,  nor  Lincolns,  nor  Garfields,  still  we 
Ure  constantly  repeating  in  our  mind  the  words  of  the 
poet: — 

"  Lives  of  great  men  all  remind  us 
We  can  make  our  lives  sublime, 
And,  departing,  leave  behind  us 
Footprints  on  the  sands  of  time." 

it  has  been  said  that  where  twenty  enter  the  dry- 


FROM  OBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.         169 

goods  traae  nineteen  will  fail  and  from  tiieir  despair  be- 
hold the  odd  one  succeed — utilizing  tlie  very  weapons 
within  their  own  grasp  to  bring  about  his  success.  This 
is  true,  not  only  of  the  dry-goods  trade  but  of  all  trades, 
of  all  professions,  and  to  resume  our  subject — Jefferson 
had  much  with  which  to  contend. 

He  finally  attended  school  at  William  and  Mary 
College  for  two  years.  Here  he  strove  to  cultivate 
friendly  feelings  with  all  whom  he  met,  with  excellent 
success,  becoming  very  popular  with  both  companions 
and  teachers.  It  was  while  a  student  that  he  heard  the 
famous  speech  of  Patrick  Henry;  and  those  immortal 
words, "give  me  liberty  or  give  me  DEATH,''seemed  to 
kindle  within  him  a  patriotic  spirit  which  grew  until  it 
burst  forth  in  that  noble  statue  to  his  memory, — the 
Declaration  of  Independence,  which  was  the  work  of  his 
pen.  He  studied  law  for  a  time,  after  a  two  years'  college 
course,  when,  in  1767  he  began  its  practice. 

As  Mr.  Jefferson  is  described  as  tall  and  spare  with 
gray  eyes  and  red  hair,  surely  his  success  is  not  due 
to  his  personal  appearance.  At  the  beginning  of  his 
practice  he  was  not  considered  what  might  be  termed 
brilliant,  but  the  fact  that  he  was  employed  on  over  two 
hundred  cases  within  the  first  two  years  of  his  practice 
proves  the  secret  of  his  success  to  have  been  his  unde- 
fatigable  energy.  It  is  also  stated  that  he  rarely  spoke 
in  public  which  shows  his  good  sense  in  discovering 
where  his  strength  lay, — then  pushing  on  that  line  to 
success. 

He  was  elected  by  his  countrymen  to  the  house  of 
Burgesses  where  he  at  once  took  a  decided  stand  against 
parliamentary  encroachment.  It  was  in  this  first  of  his 
legislative  efforts  that  he  brought  forward  a  bill  tending 


170  HIDDEN   TREASURES. 

to  the  freedom  of  slaves,  provided  their  masters  felt  so 
disposed,  but  this  measure  was  defeated.  The  house  of 
Burgesses  appointed  him  a  member  of  the  committee  of 
correspondence.  The  duty  of  this  committee  was  to 
disseminate  intelligence  upon  the  issues  of  the  day, 
notably  the  system  of  taxation  which  the  mother-country 
was  trying  to  impose  upon  the  colonies. 

His  article  entitled :  ^' A  Summary  View  of  the  Rights 
of  British  America,"  was  a  masterly  production,  clearly 
defining  the  right  of  the  colonies  to  resist  taxation,  and 
it  was  the  principles  here  set  forth  that  were  afterwards 
adopted  as  the  Declaration  of  Independence.  This 
paper  was  printed,  not  only  in  America,  but  in  England, 
where  its  author  was  placed  on  the  roll  of  treason  and 
brought  before  parliament.  This  document  also  placed 
Jefferson  in  America  among  the  foremost  writers  of  that 
age;  it  also  showed  him  to  be  a  bold  and  uncompromis- 
ing opponent  of  oppression,  and  an  eloquent  advocate  of 
constitutional  freedom. 

He  was  sent  to  the  Continental  Congress.  On  the 
floor  he  was  silent  but  he  had  the  ^reputation  of  a  mas- 
terly pen,'  says  John  Adams,  and  in  committee  was  a 
most  influential  member.  He  drafted  the  Declaration  ol 
Independence,  and  on  June  28th  it  was  laid  before 
Congress  and  finally  adopted,  with  but  a  few  verbal 
changes.  This  document  probably  has  the  greatest 
celebrity  of  any  paper  of  like  nature  in  existence. 

He  now  resigned  his  seat  in  Congress  to  *push  needed 
reform  in  his  State  preparatory  to  the  new  order  of 
affairs.  The  first  thing  needed  was  a  State  constitution. 
Jefferson  aided  much  in  the  framing  of  this.  He  was 
placed  on  the  committee  to  reorganize  the  State  laws, 
and  to  Jefferson  is  due  the  abolition  of  Primogenture- 


FROM  OBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.         171 

ship — the  exclusive  right  of  the  first-born  to  all  proi^erty 
of  the  family.  The  measure  establishing  religious  free- 
dom, whereby  people  were  not  to  be  taxed  for  the  su^Dport 
of  a  religion  not  their's,  was  also  the  work  of  his  hand. 
These  measures  were  very  democratic  indeed  and  owing 
to  the  aristocratic  views  of  the  people  at  that  time,  excited 
great  opposition,  but  they  were  finally  passed  and  since 
have  been  law. 

Thus  it  will  be  seen  that  Jefferson  was  the  author  of 
many  of  our  dearest  ideas  of  equality.  In  1778  he  lorocured 
the  passage  of  a  bill  forbidding  future  importation  of  slaves 
and  the  next  year  he  was  elected  governor  of  Virginia, 
to  succeed  Patrick  Henry.  He  assumed  the  duties  of  this 
office  in  a  most  gloomy  time.  The  enemy  were  prepar- 
ing to  carry  the  war  into  the  South,  and  Jefferson  knew 
they  would  find  Virginia  almost  defenseless.  Her  re- 
sources were  drained  to  the  dregs  to  sustain  hostilities 
in  South  Carolina  and  Georgia,  and  her  sea  coast  was 
almost  wholly  unprotected.  The  State  was  invaded  by 
the  enemy  several  times  and  once  the  Governor  was 
almost  captured  by  Tarleton. 

Jefferson  declined  a  re-election  as  ne  perceived  that 
a  military  leader  was  needed,  and  he  was  succeeded  by 
General  Nelson.  Jefferson  was  appointed  one  of  the 
Ministers  of  the  Colonies  to  Europe  to  assist  Adams  and 
Franklin  in  negotiating  treaties  of  commerce.  He  was 
the  means  which  brought  about  our  system  of  coins, 
doing  away  with  the  old  English  pounds,  shillings  and 
pence,  substituting  the  dollar  and  fractions  of  a  dollar, 
even  down  to  a  cent.  He  became  our  Minister  to  France 
in  1785  in  place  of  Franklin  who  had  resigned.  Here  he 
did  good  service  for  his  country  by  securing  the  admis- 


172  HIDDEN    TREASURES. 

sion  into  France  of  tobacco,  flour,  rice  and  various  other 
American  products. 

Being  offered  the  head  of  Washington's  cabinet,  he 
accepted  it.  Immediately  upon  his  entrance  into  the 
cabinet,  in  1790,  began  the  struggle  between  the  Federal- 
ist and  Eepublican  parties,  their  leaders,  Hamilton  and 
now  Jefferson,  both  being  members  of  the  cabinet. 
Jefferson  was  probal^ly  the  real  originator  of  the  State 
sovereignity  idea,  and  the  constitution  did  not  wholly 
meet  his  aioproval.  He  thought  better  of  it,  however, 
when  he  became  President  and  felt  more  forcibly  the 
need  of  authority  in  such  a  trying  position. 

He  had  just  returned  from  an  extended  trip  through 
Europe,  and  he  contended  that  the  world  was  governed 
too  much.  He  was  intensely  Democratic  in  his  belief 
and  as  the  head  of  the  then  rising  Republican  party — 
now  the  Democratic — opposed  all  measures  which  tended 
toward  centralizing  in  one  government,  characterizing 
all  such  measures  as  leading  to  monarchy. 

Washington  was  a  Federalist,  and  in  all  the  leading 
measures  gave  his  support  to  Mr.  Hamilton,  Mr.  Jeffer- 
son's opponent.  As  it  was  out  of  the  question  for  Jeffer- 
son to  remain  in  the  cabinet  of  an  executive  wholly  at 
variance  with  him  politically,  he  accordingly  resigned  in 
1793  and  retired  to  his  farm  at  *Monticello'  to  attend  to 
his  private  affairs  as  he  was  embarrassed  financially  at 
this  time,  and  his  attention  was  very  much  needed. 

In  1796,  Washington  designing  to  retire  from  public 
service,  the  two  great  parties  decided  upon  Adams  and 
Jefferson  as  their  standard-bearers ;  the  electoral  votes 
being  counted,  it  was  found  that  Adams  stood  first  and 
Jefferson  next.  Adams  was  therefore  declared  president 
and  Jefferson,  according  to  existing  law,  vice-president. 


FROM  OBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.         173 

Then  followed  the  alien  and  sedition  laws  and  the  war  de- 
monstrations against  France  by  the  federal  party,  which 
was  objected  to  by  the  Republicans.  The  bearing  of  France 
became  so  unendurable  that  Washington  offered  to  take 
his  place  at  the  head  of  the  army.  Finding  all  else  of  no 
avail,  the  Republicans  resorted  to  the  State  Arenas ;  the 
result  was  the  ^Kentucky  and  Virginia  resolutions  of  '98,' 
the  former  of  which  was  the  work  of  Jefferson,  the  latter 
that  of  Madison.  As  is  well  known  these  were  the  founda- 
tion, years  after,  of  Calhoun's  Nullification  Views.  It  was 
a  principle  of  Jefferson,  which  was  never  effectually  set- 
tled, until  civil  war  had  rent  the  nation  almost  in  twain. 

Happily  peace  triumphed,  and  in  the  campaign  that 
followed,  the  Republicans  were  successful,  Mr.  Jefferson 
becoming  president — Aaron  Burr  vice-president.  Jeffer- 
son's ascension  to  the  presidency  caused  a  complete  rev 
olution  in  the  politics  of  the  country.  The  central  idea 
around  which  the  party  revolved  was  the  diffusion  of 
power  among  the  people.  To  this  idea  they  wo  aid  bend 
every  question  indiscriminately,  whether  it  related  to  a 
national  bank,  tariff,  slavery,  or  taxes.  It  held  that  iii 
the  States  themselves  rested  the  original  authority,  that 
in  the  government  lay  the  power  only  for  acts  of  a  gen- 
eral character.  Jefferson,  their  first  president,  nov/  came 
to  Washington. 

President  Washington  came  to  the  capitol  with  ser- 
vants in  livery,  in  a  magnificent  carriage  drawn  by  four 
cream-colored  horses,  Jefferson  came  on  horse- back, 
hitching  his  horse  to  a  post  while  he  delivered  a  fifteen 
minute  address.  He  abolished  the  presidential  levees, 
and  concealed  his  birthday  to  prevent  its  being  cele- 
brated. He  even  detested  the  word  minister  prefixed  to 
one's  name,  and  eschewed  breeches,  wearing  pantaloons. 


174  HIDDEN    TREASURES. 

It  was  during  his  administration  that  Louisiana  was 
purchased,  although,  according  to  his  own  theory,  he  had 
no  constitutional  right  to  do  so,  but  the  great  benefit 
derived  from  this  purchase  soon  silenced  all  opposition. 

It  was  during  his  administration  that  the  piratical 
Barbary  States  were  cured  of  their  insolence,  and  in  his 
second  term  that  Burr's  trial  occurred.  At  the  close  of 
this  second  term  he  retired  to  private  life  to  become  the 
^Sage  of  Monticello.'  He  now  turned  his  attention  to 
the  establishing  of  the  University  of  Virginia.  He  was 
a  believer  in  the  free  development  of  the  human  pow- 
ers so  far  as  was  consistent  with  good  government.  He 
subjected  the  constitution  of  the  United  States  to  a  care- 
ful scrutiny  governed  by  this  theory,  and  became  con- 
vinced that  the  doctrine  of  State  sovereignty  was  right 
and  he  fought  for  it  persistently  when  called  to  the  head 
of  the  government. 

His  inaugural  address  breathed  that  idea,  but  when 
Aaron  Burr  bearded  the  authority  of  his  government 
he  began  to  realize  the  rottenness  of  such  a  foundation, 
and  when  it  came  to  the  purchase  of  Louisiana,  his  doc- 
trine had  to  be  stretched,  and  he  finally  became  con- 
vinced, as  he  expressed  it,  that  the  Government  must 
show  its  teeth. 

On  July  4th,  1826,  at  a  little  past  noon,  he  died,  a  few 
hours  before  his  x)olitical  opponent,  but  fast  friend,  John 
Adams.  How  strange  to  think  that  about  that  hour  fifty 
years  before  they  had  each  signed  the  declaration  of  the 
freedom  of  the  country  which  they  had  so  ably  served. 
The  granite  for  his  monument  lies  unquarried  nor  is 
its  erection  needed.  The  Declaration  of  Independence  is 
a  far  greater  monument  than  could  be  fashioned  from 
brass  or  stone. 


FROM  OBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.         175 


John  Marshall. 


AMERICA  has  been  bountifully  blessed  with  great 
and  good  men.  Washington  'The  father' — I  was 
about  to  say — 'founder  of  his  country';  Jefferson  who 
taught  us  the  beauty  of  plain  dress  but  rich  manners; 
Hamilton  who  placed  a  tottering  treasury  upon  a  strong- 
foundation, — Great  indeed  were  all  of  these,  but  there 
was  born  in  Fouquier  county,  Virginia,  on  the  24th  day 
of  September,  1755,  a  child  who  was  to  be  knowr  to  all 
IDOsterity  as  the  great  Chief  Justice  of  the  United  States. 
This  was  John  Marshall. 

He  was  the  eldest  of  a  family  of  fifteen  children.  In 
early  boyhood  he  took  an  interest  in  poetry  and  was 
perfectly  familar  with  Dryden,  Pope,  Milton  and  Shakes- 
peare. He  was  for  many  years  full  of  dreamy  romance 
and  poetical  enthusiasm,  and  his  solitary  meditations 
were  usually  amid  the  wildest  scenery. 

After  a  short  college  course  at  West  Moreland,  where 
he  had  as  a  fellow-student  James  Monroe,  and  a  further 
classical  education  under  a  resident  clergyman ;  he,  at 
eighteen,  began  the  study  of  law,  but  enlisted  to  fight 
the  British  before  he  obtained  a  license  lo  practice.  He 
soon  took  a  part  with  his  regiment,  of  which  his  father 
was  major,  in  the  battle  of  Great  Bridge  leading,  as  lieu- 
tenant, in  a  flanking  party  which  advanced  in  the  face  of 
a  murderous  fire  and  put  an  end  to  the  engagement. 

He  belonged  to  the  Culpepper  Minute-men,  who  wore 
green  hunting  shirts  with '' Liberty  or  Death"  on  the 


176  HIDDEN    TREASURES. 

bosom  in  white  letters,  and  who  carried  a  banner  which 
displayed  a  coiled  rattlesnake  with  the  motto,  ^' Don't 
tread  on  me."  He  took  a  part  in  the  battle  of  Brandy- 
wine,  Germantown  and  Monmouth;  he  shared  the  hard- 
ships of  Valley  Forge;  in  fact  saw  almost  continuous 
service  from  the  time  he  enlisted  at  the  beginning 
until  the  glorious  end,  for  which  he  had  so  sanguinely 
waited,  came. 

Meanwhile  he  had  studied  some,  and  had  attended 
a  course  of  lectures  delivered  by  the  renowned  Mr 
Wythe  at  William  and^  Mary  College,  and  had  secured 
a  license  to  ^Dractice.  At  the  close  of  hostilities  he  com- 
menced business  as  an  attorney;  with  marked  success 
from  the  first. 

That  extraordinary  comprehension  and  grasp  of  mind 
by  which  difficulties  were  seized  and  overcome  without 
parade,  commended  the  attention  of  the  courts  of  jus- 
tice ;  and  his  sweet  temper  and  loving  ways  gained 
for  him  a  host  of  friends.  Such  a  man,  who  possessed 
not  only  ability  but  a  perfect  control  of  himself,  must 
SUCCEED.  He  soon  rose  to  distinction,  being  elected  to  a 
seat  in  the  council  of  the  State.  He  was  married  in 
1783  to  the  daughter  of  the  State  treasurer  and  moved 
to  Richmond. 

In  spite  of  this  removal  his  old  neighbors  re-elected 
him  to  represent  their  county,  and  in  1787  he  became  a 
member  from  his  adopted  county,  Henrico.  As  is  well- 
known,  the  Federal  constitution  was  considered  by  many 
an  approach  to  monarchy.  It  was  held  by  Jefferson  and 
many  of  his  followers  as  tending  toward  that  state  of 
things  of  which  they  had  so  much  to  fear.  At  the  Vir- 
ginia Convention,  assembled  to  discuss  the  constitution 
drawn  up  at  Philadelphia,  where  great  opposition  was 
11 


FROM  OBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.         177 

developed,  Mr.  Marshall's  speech  had  a  crushing  effect  on 
its  assailants.  He  next  became  a  member  from  Rich- 
mond, that  city  now  being  entitled  to  a  representative, 
where  he  remained  for  three  years. 

Virginia  was  the  headquarters  of  the  State  rights 
party,  headed  by  Jefferson.  Mr.  Marshall  supported  the 
administration  of  Washington,  defining  the  Federal  view 
so  clearly  that  it  carried  conviction,  yet  so  calmly  and 
with  such  moderation  of  tone,  that  when  he  retired  from 
that  body  in  1792  he  left  not  an  enemy  behind.  He  now 
devoted  himself  to  his  profession  with  unbounded  suc- 
cess. While  attending  to  a  large  legal  practice,  he  also 
frequently  appeared  at  public  meetings  in  support  of  the 
administration  of  Washington. 

In  1795  he  was  again  a  member  of  the  House.  In  the 
violent  debate  over  Jay's  treaty  he  became  its  champion, 
and  by  a  most  eloquent  speech,  before  a  body  that  had 
condemned  it,  he  secured  an  amendment  to  their  reso- 
lution, reversing  their  former  decision,  and  the  passage 
of  one  favorable  to  the  policy.  Washington  offered  him 
a  place  in  his  Cabinet,  but  he  refused,  as  it  would  inter- 
fere with  his  profession  ;  later  he  was  offered  the  mis- 
sion to  France,  which  he  also  declined.  In  1797  Presi- 
dent Adams  sent  another  delegation  to  France,  which  he 
accepted,  and  with  Pickney  and  Gerry  proceeded  to  Paris. 

Upon  his  return  he  immediately  resumed  his  practice, 
but  was  urged  to  defend  his  party.  Washington  finally 
prevailed  upon  him  to  run  for  Congress,  to  which  he  was 
elected  in  1799.  Even  during  the  canvass  Adams  offered 
him  a  seat  on  the  Supreme  Bench,  which  he  declined. 
Within  a  few  weeks  from  the  time  of  his  entrance  upon 
his  duties  as  Congressman,  he  was  called  upon  to  an- 
nounce in  that  body  the  death  of    Washington.    His 


17S  HIDDEN    TREASURES. 

words  were  few,  but  w^ere  ever  remembered  as  producing 
a  profound  impression. 

Washington,  the  great  Federal  leader  was  dead. 
Virginia  had  passed  the  resolution  of  1798,  recording  her 
solemn  protest,  and  the  Republicans  were  flushed  with 
the  daily  increasing  revulsion  against  the  Federal  Gov- 
ernment. At  this  crisis  John  Marshall  appeared  in  Con- 
gress and  stepped  to  the  front  as  the  leader  of  his  party. 
In  1800  he  w^as  appointed  Secretary  of  War.  Before  he 
entered  upon  his  duties  he  is  placed  at  the  head  of  the 
Cabinet  as  Secretary  of  State,  and  a  few  months  later 
his  name  is  sent  by  the  President  to  Congress,  and  is 
unanimously  confirmed  for  the  position  of  Chief  Justice 
of  the  United  States. 

John  Marshall  has  been  heretofore  recognized  as  a 
man  of  great  ability,  and  now  he  takes  a  position  wdiich 
he  holds  for  life,  and  w^here  his  influence  is  paramount. 
On  one  occasion  a  young  house-keeper  was  sw^earing 
lustily  because  he  could  find  no  one  to  carry  his  turkey 
home  for  him.  A  plain  man  standing  by  offered  to  per- 
form the  service,  and  w^hen  they  arrived  at  the  door  the 
3^oung  man  asked,  'What  shall  I  i^ay  you,  sir '  ?  ^0  nothing,' 
replied  the  old  man ;  '  It  w^as  on  my  way,  and  no  trouble.' 
'Who  is  that  iDolite  old  gentleman,'  asked  the  young  man 
of  a  bystander.  The  reply  was,  '  That  is  the  Chief  Jus- 
tice of  the  United  States.'  The  young  man  drank  the 
bitter  cu^d  w^ithout  further  comment. 

An  eminent  writer  once  said  of  him :  Here  is  John 
Marshall,  wdiose  mind  seems  to  be  an  inexhaustible 
quarry  from  wdiich  he  drawls  the  materials  and  builds  his 
fabrics  rude  and  Gothic,  but  of  such  strength  that  neither 
time  nor  force  can  beat  them  down  ;  a  fellow  who  would 


FROM  OBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.         179 

not  turn  off  a  single  step  from  the  right  line  of  his  argu- 
ment, though  a  paradise  should  rise  to  tempt  him. 

What  more  could  be  said  of  him, — only  that  he  died 
at  Philadelphia  on  the  6th  of  July,  1835  ;  more  would  be 
superfluous. 


Alexander  Hamilton. 


UPOX  the  accession  of  the  Republicans  to  the  control 
of  the  government,  Jefferson  ordered  the  books  of 
Hamilton  searched  to  ascertain  what  charges  could  be 
made  against  him,  and  to  discover  the  alleged  blunders 
and  frauds  perpetrated  by  the  Federal  official  while  in 
office.  Albert  Gallatin,  himself  one  of  the  greatest  finan- 
ciers of  his  age,  undertook  the  task  with  a  hearty  relish 
as  he  at  that  time  entertained  no  great  esteem  for  the 
great  Federalist.  Struck  by  the  almost  absolute  perfec- 
tion of  the  system,  Gallatin  reported  to  the  President 
that  any  change  would  certainly  injure  it  and  that  no 
blunders  or  frauds  had  been  committed. 

This  great  man  was  born  on  one  of  the  "West  India 
Islands,  January  11th,  1757.  His  father  failed  when  he 
was  young  and  his  mother  died  leaving  the  poor  child 
in  actual  want.  He  was  taken  by  friends  at  Santa 
Cruz.  He  had  no  great  educational  advantages  there, 
but  being  able  to  read  both  English  and  French  he 
devoured  all  such  books  as  fell  in  his  way.  He  was 
placed  in  a  counting-house  in  Santa  Cruz  and,  although 
he  detested  the  business,  applied  himself  dilligently  to 


180  HIDDEN    TREASURES. 

his  task  and  the  knowledge  here  gained  was  no  small 
factor  of  his  future  great  success  as  a  financier. 

He  applied  every  spare  moment  to  study  and  early 
began  to  use  his  pen.  In  1772  a  hurricane  passed  through 
St.  Christophers,  and  an  account  which  young  Hamilton 
then  wrote  for  the  papers  attracted  so  much  attention 
that  his  friends  decided  to  give  him  a  better  chance. 
They  accordingly  raised  the  money  with  which  to  send 
him  to  New  York  to  school,  and  after  a  few  months 
spent  at  a  grammar  school  in  Elizabethtown,  New  Jersey, 
he  entered  Columbia  College,  New  York — then  called 
Kings  College.  Here  he  began  study  preparatory  to  a 
medical  course. 

About  this  time  his  attention  became  draTvni  toward 
the  struggle  which  was  about  to  commence  between 
Great  Britain  and  America,  and  at  a  public  meeting  he 
made  a  short  speech  which  attracted  general  attention. 
He  was  now  but  seventeen  years  of  age,  yet  his  pen  was 
keenly  felt  in  the  interest  of  America,  through  the 
columns  of  Holts  Journal,  to  which  he  had  become  a 
regular  contributor.  He  entered  the  army  as  captain  of 
an  artillery  company  which  he  was  the  chief  means  of 
raising,  and  did  good  service  at  White  Plains,  Trenton 
and  Princeton. 

He  secured  this  position  through  the  influence  of 
General  Schuyler  and,  although  but  nineteen  years  of 
age,  he  was  well  qualified  for  the  position,  having  made  a 
study  of  artillery  tactics.  His  ability  had  not  escaped 
the  attention  of  the  army,  and  he  was  placed  upon  Wash- 
ington's staff  with  rank  of  lieutenant-colonel.  Wash- 
ington needed  some  one  to  take  charge  of  his  great  cor- 
respondence,— some  one  who  could  think  for  himself, 
Young  as  Hamilton  was  he  assumed  the  entire  respon- 


FROM  OBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.         181 

?ibility  of  chief  secretary,  besides  rendering  much  valu- 
able assistance  as  aid.  He  married  one  of  General 
Schuyler's  daughters,  and  this  alliance  with  one  of  the 
wealthiest  familes  in  the  State  proved  a  most  fortunate 
epoch  in  his  life.  A  difference  arising  between  Wash- 
ington and  himself  he  resigned  and,  although  Washing- 
ton sent  an  apology,  he  refused  to  recall  his  resignation 
however  their  mutual  esteem  was  continued.  He  subse- 
quently commanded  a  brigade  at  the  battle  of  Yorktown. 

He  now  took  up  his  residence  at  Albany  and  began 
the  study  of  law  with  his  wife's  father.  He  was  soon 
licensed  to  practice,  and  was  chosen  one  of  the  delegates 
to  the  Continental  Congress.  He  realized  the  necessity  of 
vesting  more  power  in  congress  and  secured  the  adoption, 
by  the  State  of  New  York,  of  a  resolution  urging  the 
amendment  of  the  constitution  with  that  object  in' view. 
He  now  moved  to  New  York  where  he  soon  acquired  an 
immense  practice.  His  efforts  in  behalf  of  the  consti- 
tution were  untiring  and  useful. 

When  Washington  became  president  he  selected  Ham^ 
iltoii  as  his  Secretary  of  Treasury.  It  was  a  wise  choice 
as  financial  difhculties  were  the  most  formidable  of  any 
in  the  way  of  the  administration,  and  no  man  was  more 
capable  of  bringing  order  out  of  chaos  thsn  Alexander 
Hamilton.  All  parties  agreed  that  the  debts  incurred 
abroad  must  be  met  according  to  contract,  but  as  a  large 
amount  of  the  domestic  debt  was  in  the  hands  of  men 
who  had  bought  it  for  a  rise  it  had  been  suggested  that 
these  obligations  be  settled  upon  the  basis  of  the  amount 
paid  for  them  by  their  present  holders.  This  measure 
Hamilton  opposed.  While  acknowledging  that  specula- 
tion was  an  evil,  still  he  saw  that  such  a  measure  would 
tend  to  weaken  our  financial  credit.     He  also  brought 


182  HIDDEN   TREASURES. 

about  the  assumption  by  the  government  of  the  entire 
State  debt  incurred  during  the  war.  This  measure  was 
strongly  opposed  by  Jefferson,  and  its  passage  had  a 
marked  effect  on  our  system  tending  to  centralize 
authorit}^ 

It  will  thus  be  seen  that  to  Alexande.  Hamilton 
belongs  no  small  share  of  founding  and  shaping  the  des- 
tiny of  this  powerful  country  of  to-day.  Like  many 
other  great  and  good  men,  he  was  obliged  to  suffer  the 
slander  of  the  press,  which  charged  him  with  a  misap- 
propriation of  the  public  money,  but  as  has  already  been 
shown  in  this  narrative,  it  proved  nothing  but  a  foul 
story  concocted  through  jealousy  and  partisan  hate,  and 
is  no  longer  countenanced.  His  salary  being  insufficient 
for  his  support,  he  resigned  his  position  and  resumed  the 
practice  of  his  profession  in  New  York.  In  the  warlike 
demonstration  of  1798  he  became,  upon  the  death  of 
General  Washington,  the  Commander-in-Chief  of  all  the 
armies  of  America,  but  happily  the  war  with  France  was 
averted  and  peace  restored. 

Now  we  come  to  the  saddest  page  of  American  his- 
tory. We  have  followed  this  poor  homeless  boy  from 
childhood ;  we  have  seen  him  rise  from  obscuritj^  to  a 
leading  position  at  the  bar,  become  a  gallant  soldier  and 
the  greatest  financier  in  America.  And  yet,  when  his 
country  most  needs  his  council  and  help,  we  see  him,  at 
the  age  of  fifty-seven,  stricken  down  by  an  assassin. 

Aaron  Burr  was  an  ambitious  i:)olitician.  His  alleged 
intrigues  with  the  Federalists,  whereby  he  sought  to 
effect  the  election  of  himself  to  the  presidency  instead 
of  Jefferson,  the  people's  choice,  cost  him  the  confidence 
of  his  own  party.  Knowing  New  York  to  be  the  pivotal 
State,  he   soue^ht  the  jjubernatorial   chair  through  an 


FROM  OBSCURITY  TO  OREAT  HONOR.         183 

independent  vote,  hoping  to  secure  Federal  support,  as 
it  was  conceded  that  they  could  not  elect  a  candidate  of 
their  own.  Hamilton,  himself  as  pure  as  the  bright 
sunshine,  felt  his  party  to  be  imposed  upon  by  this  intru- 
der who,  while  professing  to  be  a  Republican,  was  seek- 
ing to  thrust  himself  upon  the  other  party. 

At  a  caucus  Hamilton  y/armly  opposed  the  endorse- 
ment of  a  man  whom  he  characterized  as  dangerous 
and  who  had  not  ought  to  be  trusted  with  the  reins  of 
government.  Hamilton  took  no  active  part  in  the  cam- 
paign, but  his  opinion  was  frequently  quoted  by  those 
who  did,  and  the  result  w^as  Burr's  defeat  by  Morgan 
Lewis.  Attributing  his  defeat  to  Hamilton,  and  feeling 
him  to  be  his  greatest  political  rival,  he  early  sought  a 
duel  with  him.  Hamilton  detested  this  practice,  and 
sought  by  all  honorable  means,  as  he  wrote  to  his  wife, 
to  avoid  it.  But  finally  he  accepted,  not  in  the  spirit  of 
a  professed  duelist,  but  in  the  character  of  a  i)ublic  man. 
They  met  on  the  morning  of  July  11th,  1804,  on  the  fatal 
field  of  Weehawken,  New  Jersey. 

At  the  first  hre  Honiilton  sprang  on  his  tip-toes,  and, 
after  a  convulsive  movement,  fell  forward  on  his  face. 
At  the  same  time  his  weapon  was  accidentally  dis- 
charged, his  missile  flying  wide  of  its  mark.  Indeed, 
Hamilton  did  not  fire  ;  in  reality,  he  had  resolved  not  to 
return  his  antagonist's  fire,  and  never  knew  that  his 
weapon  was  discharged,  as  he  was  insensible  when  he 
fell.  He  died  within  thirty  hours,  and  his  funeral  was 
the  most  imposing  ever  witnessed  in  that  day.  Around 
the  name  of  Hamilton  there  glows  a  halo  which  has 
brightened  in  the  ages.  Thus  was  America  robbed  of 
her  brave  soldier  and  pure  statesman. 


184  HIDDEN   TREASURES. 


James  Madison. 


THE  subject  of  this  narrative,  James  Madison,  was  born 
at  King  George,  Virginia,  March  16th,  1751.  His 
father  was  a  planter,  descended  from  John  Madison,  an 
Englishman  who  settled  in  Virginia  about  the  year  1656. 
The  maiden  na^me  of  his  mother  was  Eleanor  Conway. 
He  was  the  eldest  of  seven  children.  He  received  a  fairly 
good  education  but  better  still,  he  apiDlied  himself  very 
I'losely  at  college,  so  much  so  as  to  make  him  noted  in 
this  respect;  the  result  was  seen  in  after  years. 

In  1772  he  returned  to  Virginia  and  commenced  a 
course  of  legal  study.  He  particularly  studied  up  on 
public  affairs,  and  in  the  spring  of  1776  he  was  elected  a 
member  of  the  Virginia  convention  from  the  county  of 
Orange,  and  procured  the  passage  of  the  substance  of  an 
amendment  to  tlie  declaration  of  rights,  by  George  Mason, 
which  struck  out  the  old  term  '  toleration '  and  inserted 
a  broader  exposition  of  religious  rights.  In  the  same 
year  he  was  a  member  of  the  general  assembly,  but  lost 
his  election  in  1777,  from  his  refusal  to  treat  the  voters, 
and  the  general  want  of  confidence  in  his  powers  of 
oratory.  Thus,  it  is  seen,  that  as  James  Madison's  natural 
abilities  could  not  have  bee;i  very  marked,  his  success 
was  the  natural  result  of  great  exertion. 

The  legislature,  however,  on  meeting  in  November  of 
the  same  vear,  elected  him  a  member  of  the  council  of 
the  State;  and  in  the  winter  of  1779  he  was  chosen  by 
the  assembly  a  delegate  to  congress.  He  took  his  seat 
in   March,  1780,  and  remained   in  that  body  for  three 


FROM  OBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.         185 

years.  He  strongly  opposed  the  issue  of  paper  money 
hj  the  States,  and  was  in  favor  of  a  formal  recommenda- 
tion on  the  part  of  congress  against  the  continuance  of 
the  system.  As  chairman  of  the  committee  to  prepare 
instructions  to  the  ministers  at  Versailles  and  Madrid,  in 
support  of  the  claims  of  the  confederacy  to  western  ter- 
ritory and  the  free  navigation  of  the  Mississippi,  he 
drew  an  elaborate  and  able  paper  which  was  unani- 
mously adopted  by  congress.  He  zealously  advocated  in 
1783  the  measure  proposed  to  establish  a  system  of  gen- 
eral revenue  to  pay  the  expenses  of  the  war,  and  as  chair- 
man of  the  committee  to  which  the  matter  was  referred, 
prepared  an  able  address  to  the  State  in  support  of  the 
plan,  which  was  adopted  by  congress  and  received  the 
warm  approval  of  Washington. 

The  people  of  Virginia  now  began  to  realize  the  value 
of  his  services  ;  a  striking  proof  of  which  is  exhibited 
by  the  fact  that  the  law  rendering  him  inelligible  after 
three  years'  service  in  Congress  was  repealed,  in  order 
that  he  might  sit  during  the  fourth.  On  his  return  to 
Virginia  he  was  elected  to  the  Legislature,  and  took  his 
seat  during  1784.  In  this  body  he  inaugurated  the  meas- 
ures relating  to  a  thorough  revision  of  the  old  statutes, 
and  supported  the  bills  introduced  by  the  revisers,  Jeffer- 
son, Wyth,  and  Pendleton,  on  the  subject  of  entails,  prim- 
ogeniture (exclusive  heirship  belonging  to  the  first  born) 
and  religious  freedom. 

He  aided  in  the  separation  of  Kentucky  from  Vir- 
ginia, and  the  formation  of  the  new  State,  opposed  the 
further  issue  of  paper  money,  and  favored  the  payment 
of  debts  due  British  creditors.  His  greatest  service  at 
this  time  was  his  preparation,  after  the  close  of  the 
assembly,  of   a  "Memorial  and  Remonstrance"  against 


186  HIDDEN    TREASURES. 

the  project  of  a  general  assessment  for  the  support  of 
religion,  which  caused  the  utter  defeat  of  the  measure, 
against  which  it  was  directed.  In  January,  1786,  he 
obtained  the  passage  of  a  bill  hy  the  General  Assembly 
inviting  the  other  States  to  appoint  commissioners  to 
meet  at  Annapolis  and  devise  a  new  system  of  commer- 
cial regulations.  He  was  chosen  one  of  the  commis- 
sioners, and  attended  at  Annapolis  in  September  of  the 
same  year.  Five  States  only  were  represented,  and  the 
commissioners  recommended  a  convention  of  delegates 
from  all  the  States  to  meet  ^t  Philadelphia,  in  May,  1787. 
The  recommendation  was  generally  adopted  and,  of 
course,  Madison  was  chosen  one  of  the  delegates  from 
Virginia. 

The  convention  assembled  and  the  result  was  the  ab- 
rogation of  the  old  articles  and  the  formation  of  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States.  Madison  was  i^romi- 
nent  in  advocating  the  Constitution  and  took  a  leading 
]3art  in  the  debates,  of  which  he  kept  private  notes,  since 
published  by  order  of  congress.  His  views  of  a  federal 
government  are  set  forth  at  length  in  a  paper  still  ex- 
tant in  the  hand-writing  of  Washington,  which  contains 
the  subtance  of  a  letter  written  to  Washington  by  Madi- 
son before  the  meeting  of  the  convention,  proposing  a 
scheme  of  thorough  centralization.  The  writer  declares 
that  he  is  equally  opposed  to  'the  individual  indepen- 
dence of  the  States,'  and  to  'the  consolidation  of  the 
whole  into  one  simple  republic' 

He  is  nevertheless  in  favor  to  invest  in  congress  the 
power  to  exercise  '  a  negative  in  all  cases  whatever  on 
the  legislative  acts  of  the  States,  as  heretofore  exercised 
by  the  kingly  prerogative.'  He  says  further  'that  the 
right  of  coercion  should  be  expressly  declared;  but  the 


FROM  OBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.         187 

difficulty  and  awkwardness  of  operating  by  force  on  the 
collective  will  of  a  State,  render  it  particularly  desirable 
that  the  necessity  of  it  should  be  precluded.'  From  these 
extreme  views  Madison  conscientiously  departed,  but  in 
the  convention  he  supported  them  with  zeal  and  vigor. 
The  scheme  known  as  the  ^Virginia  Plan'  was  adopted 
instead,  and  the  convention  adjourned.  The  subsequent 
5i,doption  of  the  Constitution  was  in  a  large  measure  due 
JO  a  series  of  essays,  now  familiar  in  their  collected 
form  as  "  The  Federalist."  They  v/ere  commenced  in  a 
New  York  nevv^spaper  soon  after  the  adjournment  of  the 
Convention,  and  continued  to  appear  until  June,  1788. 
The  iDublic  journals  everywhere  republished  them,  and 
it  was  soon  known  that  they  were  the  work  of  Hamilton, 
Madison,  and  Jay.  The  volume  remains  the  forcible 
exposition  upon  the  side  which  it  espoused.  The  whole 
ground  is  surveyed,  general!}'  and  in  detail ;  the  various 
points  at  issue  are  discussed  wrbh  the  utmost  acuteness, 
and  the  advantages  of  the  adoption  of  the  instrument 
urged  with  logical  force  and  eloquence  which  p]ac8  "The 
Federalist"  beside  the  most  famous  political  writirxg^ 
of  the  old  English  worthies. 

The  Virginia  convention,  of  which  Madison  was  a 
member,  assembled  in  June.  He  had  completely  over- 
come his  natural  diffidence  and,  although  deficient  as  an 
orator,  exerted  a  powerful  influence  over  his  associates, 
contributing  as  much  to  the  final  triumph  of  the  consti- 
tution as  any  one  in  the  body.  The  instrument  was 
adopted  by  a  vote  of  eighty-nine  to  seventy-nine  and  the 
convention  closed.  The  part  which  he  had  taken  in  its 
deliberations  very  greatly  increased  Madison's  reputa- 
tion ;  and  he  was  brought  forward  as  a  candidate  for 
United  States  Senator  but  was  defeated.  He  was,  however. 


ISS  HIDDEN    TREASURES. 

chosen  a  member  of  congress  and  took  his  seat  in  that 
body  in  1789. 

Alexander  Hamilton  was  at  the  head  of  the  treasury 
department  and  Madison  was  obliged  either  to  support 
the  great  series  of  financial  measures  initiated  by  the 
secretary,  or  distinctly  abandon  his  former  associate  and 
range  himself  on  the  side  of  the  republican  opposition. 
He  adopted  the  latter  course.  Although  he  had  warmly 
espoused  the  adoption  of  the  constitution,  he  was  now 
convinced  of  the  necessity  of  a  strict  construction  of  the 
powers  which  it  conferred  upon  the  general  government. 
He  accordingly  opposed  the  funding  bill,  the  national 
bank,  and  Hamilton's  system  of  finance  generally. 

His  affection  for  Washington,  and  long  friendship  for 
Hamilton,  rendered  such  a  step  peculiarly  disagreeable 
to  a  mxan  of  Madison's  amiable  and  kindly  disposition, 
but  the  tone  of  his  opposition  did  not  alienate  his  friends. 
Occupying,  as  he  did,  the  middle  ground  between  the 
violent  partisans  on  both  sides  he  labored  to  reconcile 
the  antagonism  of  the  two  parties,  and  always  retained 
the  same  cordial  regard  for  Washington. 

On  Jefferson's  return  from  France,  Madison  was 
solicited  to  accept  the  mission  and  it  was  kept  open  for 
twelve  months  awaiting  his  decision.  He  declined  the 
place,  as  he  aftewards  did  the  position  of  Secretary  of 
State  on  the  retirement  of  Jefferson,  from  a  firm  convic- 
tion that  the  radical  antagonism  of  views  between  him- 
self and  a  majority  of  the  members  of  the  cabinet  would 
render  his  acceptance  of  either  office  fruitful  in  misun- 
derstandings and  collisions. 

He  remained  in  congress,  becoming  thoroughly  iden- 
tified with  the  Republicans,  and  soon  became  the  avowed 
leader  in  congress.     In  1794  he  gave  his  full  support  to 


FROM  OBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.         189 

its  foreign  policy  by  moving  a  series  of  resolutions, 
based  upon  the  report  of  Jefferson,  advocating  a  retali- 
atory policy  toward  Great  Britain,  and  commercial  dis- 
criminations in  favor  of  France.  These  resolutions  he 
supported  in  a  speech  of  great  ability.  In  March,  1797, 
his  term  expired,  and  he  returned  to  Virginia. 

The  insulting  treatment  of  the  American  envoys  to 
France  and  the  war  message  of  President  Adams  were 
about  to  be  followed  by  the  passage  of  the  alien  and 
sedition  laws.  The  Republicans  vainly  tried  to  stem  the 
popular  current  in  favor  of  the  measures  of  the  adminis- 
tration. The  passing  of  the  alien  and  sedition  laws  in  July, 
1798,  gave  them  the  first  opportunity  to  make  a  stand. 
Opposition  to  even  these  violent  measures  was  however 
ineffectual  in  the  Federal  legislature;  and  the  Republican 
leaders  determined  to  resort  to  the  State  arenas  for  the 
decisive  struggle. 

It  commenced  in  Kentucky,  and  resulted  there  in  the 
adoption  of  a  series  of  resolutions,  which  were  followed, 
in  December,  1798,  by  similar  resolves  of  the  Virginia 
Assembly.  The  latter,  now  known  as  "the  resolutions 
of  1798-'9,"  were  drawn  up  by  James  Madison,  not  then  a 
member.  They  declared  the  determination  of  the 
Assembly  to  defend  the  Constitution  of  he  United  States, 
but  to  resist  all  attempts  to  enlarge  the  authority  of  the 
federal  compact  by  forced  constructions  of  general 
clauses,  as  tending  to  consolidation,  the  destruction  of 
the  liberties  of  the  States,  and  finally  to  a  monarchy. 

In  case  of  a  "deliberate,  palpable,  and  dangerous" 
exercise  of  powers  not  clearly  granted  to  the  General 
Government,  the  States  had  a  right  to  interpose  ;  and  as 
the  passing  of  the  alien  and  sedition  laws  was  such  an 
infraction  of  right,  the  assembly  protested  against  those 


190  HIDDEN    TREASURES. 

laws.  The  seventh  resolution  called  upon  the  other 
States  to  join  with  the  State  of  Virginia  4n  declaring, 
as  it  does  hereby  declare,  that  the  acts  aforesaid  are 
unconstitutional,  and  that  the  necessary  and  proper  meas- 
ures will  be  taken  by  each  for  co-operating  with  this 
State  in  maintaining  unimpaired  the  authorities,  rights 
and  liberties  reserved  to  the  States  respectively,  or  to  the 
people.' 

The  resolutions  passed  the  House  by  a  vote  of  100  to 
63,  and  were  duly  communicated  to  the  several  States  of 
the  Union.  They  met  with  little  favor,  especially  in  the 
Northern  States.  Massachusetts  and  New  England  gen- 
erally remonstrated  against  them,  and  declared  the  ob- 
noxious laws  both  constitutional  and  expedient.  This 
drew  forth,  in  the  winter  of  1799-1800,  Madison's  "Report" 
in  defence  of  his  resolutions.  This  elaborate  paper  sub- 
jected the  resolves  to  an  exhaustive  analysis  and  defended 
them  with  masterly  vigor.  It  is  the  most  famous  of  his 
political  writings  and  will  rank  with  the  greatest  state 
papers  written  in  America. 

Although  the  resolutions  met  with  an  unfavorable 
reception  throughout  the  States,  they  exerted  a  power- 
ful influence  on  public  opinion.  Virginia  had  shown 
how  deeply  in  earnest  she  was  by  directing  the  establish- 
ment of  two  arsenals,  and  an  armory  sufficiently  large 
to  store  10,000  muskets  and  other  arms  ;  but  a  whole- 
some change  in  the  sentiment  of  the  country  happily 
restored  good  feeling  and  softened  down  all  bitterness. 

The  alien  and  sedition  laws  found  few  supporters 
ultimately,  and  Madison's  views  were  fully  vindicated. 
The  revulsion  against  the  Federal  party  and  in  favor  of 
the  Republicans,  terminated  in  the  election  of  Jefferson, 
who  entered  upon  the  presidency  in  1801.     Madison  was 


FROM  OBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.         191 

Secretary  of  State  during  Jefferson's  entire  administra- 
tion, and  his  opinions  on  public  affairs  closely  agreed 
with  those  of  the  President. 

He  became  still  more  popular  with,  and  acceptable 
to,  his  party  and  toward  the  close  of  Jefferson's  second 
term  was  generally  spoken  of  as  his  successor.  A  caucus 
of  the  majority  of  the  Republican  members  of  Congress 
was  finally  held,  and  Madison  was  nominated.  This  met 
with  bitter  opposition  from  a  wing  of  the  party,  headed 
by  John  Randolph,  who  were  friendly  to  the  nomination 
of  Monroe.  They  published  a  caustic  Trotest'  against 
the  action  of  the  caucus  and  denounced  Madison  for  his 
'want  of  energy,'  his  connection  with  the  'Federalist/ 
and  his  report  upon  the  Yazoo  claims. 

His  friends  defended  him  against  all  charges  and  re- 
torted so  strongly  upon  the  authors  of  the  "Protest"  that 
they  were  silenced.  The  action  of  the  caucus  was  gen- 
erally approved  by  the  party,  and  Madison  Avas  elected 
by  a  vote  of  123  out  of  175,  and  took  his  seat  as  president, 
March  4,  1809. 

President  Madison  entered  upon  his  duties  at  a  crisis 
in  public  affairs  which  required  the  utmost  foresight, 
resolution  and  prudence.  Clreat  Britain  and  the  United 
States  were  on  the  verge  of  war.  In  1807  the  long  series 
of  wrongs  inflicted  by  England  upon  the  commerce  of 
America,  and  the  rights  of  her  seaman,  had  been  con- 
summated by  the  affair  of  the  Leopard  and  Chesapeake. 
This  wanton  insult  had  thrown  the  country  into  violent 
commotion,  and  occasioned  the  embargo  act,  which  had 
been  succeeded  by  the  non-intercourse  act,  prohibiting 
all  commerce  with  France  and  England,  until  the  decrees 
of  the  French  emperor  and  the  British  orders  in  council 


192  HIDDEN    TREASURES. 

in  relation  to  the  seizure  of  neutrals  and  the  impress- 
ment of  seamen  were  repealed. 

The  first  of  the  British  cabinet  did  not  encourage 
peace.  Mr.  Erskine,  the  English  minister,  in  promising 
reparation  for  the  affair  of  the  Chesapeake,  and  a  repeal 
of  the  obnoxious  orders  in  council,  on  condition  of  a 
renewal  of  intercourse  on  the  part  of  the  United  States, 
was  declared  to  have  exceeded  his  authority,  and  was 
recalled.  He  was  succeeded  by  Mr.  Jackson  who  was  au- 
thorized to  enter  into  a  commercial  treaty,  but  speedily 
became  embroiled  with  the  Secretary  of  State.  The 
president  directed  the  secretary  to  have  no  further  com- 
munication with  him,  and  soon  afterward  requested  his 
recall.  This  was  complied  with,  but  no  censure  was 
visited  upon  the  envoy,  and  no  other  was  sent  in  his  place. 

In  May,  1810,  congress  approved  the  course  of  the 
executive,  declared  the  official  communications  of  Mr. 
Jackson  highly  indecorous  and  insolent,  and  passed  a 
new  act  of  non-intercourse.  This  provided  that  if  either 
France  or  England  repealed  her  hostile  decree,  and  the 
other  did  not  within  three  months  do  likewise,  then  inter- 
course  should  be  resumed  with  the  one,  while  with  the 
other  non -intercourse  should  be  persisted  in. 

In  August  the  French  minister  for  Foreign  Affairs 
gave  notice  to  the  American  minister  that  the  Berlin  and 
Milan  decrees  had  been  revoked  by  the  Emperor  ;  and  in 
K^ovember  Madison  issued  a  proclamation  declaring  the 
fact,  and  announcing  that  the  act  of  non-intercourse 
would  be  revived  as  to  Great  Britain  unless  her  orders  in 
council  should  l:)e  revoked  within  three  months  from  the 
date  of  the  proclamation. 

The   British   government  resisted  this  demand,   on 

the    ground    that  there    was    no    official    evidence  of 
12 


FROM  OBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.         193 

the  repeal  of  the  French  decrees,  and  the  act  of 
non-intercourse  was  accordingly  declared  in  full  force 
against  Great  Britain.  In  March,  1811,  the  Emperor 
Napoleon  disavowed  the  statement  of  the  Duke  of 
Cadore,  and  declared  that  ^'the  decrees  of  Berlin  and 
Milan  were  the  fundamental  laws  of  the  empire."  Amer- 
ican vessels  had  been  siezed  and  held  by  France  even 
after  the  loresident's  proclamation,  and  every  overture 
on  the  part  of  the  American  minister  at  Paris  toward 
the  re-establishment  of  friendly  relations  between  the 
two  countries  was  viewed  with  indifference  and  utterly 
failed.  The  country  was  slowly  but  surely  drifting  to- 
ward a  war,  which  no  exertions  on  the  part  of  the  admin- 
istration seemed  adequate  to  prevent. 

Madison  pushed  his  pacific  views  to  an  extent  that 
proved  displeasing  to  many  of  the  most  prominent  men 
of  the  Eepublican  party.  Bills  were  passed  for  augment- 
ing the  army,  repairing  and  equi]3ping  ships  of  war,  or- 
ganizing and  arming  the  militia,  and  placing  the  country 
in  an  attitude  to  resist  an  enemy;  for  all  wdiich  congress 
appropriated  $1,000,000. 

Madison  acquiesced  in  this  policy  with  extreme  re- 
luctance, but  on  June  1,  1812,  transmitted  a  special 
message  to  congress  in  which  he  reviewd  the  whole  con- 
troversy, and  spoke  in  strong  terms  of  the  aggressions  of 
Great  Britain  upon  commercial  rights.  The  act  declar- 
ing war  between  Great  Britain  and  America  speedily 
followed.  The  president  gave  it  his  approval  on  June 
18,  and  ]3romptly  issued  his  proclamation  calling  upon 
the  loeople  to  prepare  for  the  struggle,  and  to  support  the 
government. 

A  short  delay  would  probably  have  defeated  the 
policy  of  the  war  party,  and  re-opened  the  old  negotia- 


194  HIDDEN   TREASURES. 

tions.  A  decree  of  the  French  emperor  had  been  ex- 
hibited to  the  United  States  minister  to  France,  dated 
April  28,  1811,  which  declared  the  definite  revocation  of 
the  Berlin  and  Milan  decrees,  from  and  after  November 
1,  1810.  In  consequence  of  this.  Great  Britain,  on  June 
23,  within  jfive  days  after  the  declaration  of  war,  repealed 
the  obnoxious  orders  in  council  in  relation  to  the  rights 
of  neutrals,  and  thus  removed  one  of  the  main  grounds 
of  complaint  on  the  part  of  the  American  government. 

On  June  26,  before  the  course  of  the  British  Cabinet 
was  known  in  America,  Mr.  Monroe,  Secretary  of  State, 
wrote  to  Mr.  Eussell  proposing  the  terms  of  armistice. 
These  were  a  repeal  of  the  orders  in  council,  with  no  ille- 
gal blockades  substituted,  and  a  discontinuance  of  the 
impressment  of  seamen.  In  the  latter  iDart  of  August, 
Mr.  Eussell,  our  representative  at  London,  received  from 
the  English  Government  a  definite  refusal  to  accede  to 
these  propositions,  as  ^on  various  grounds  absolutely 
inadmissible,'  he  therefore  returned  to  the  United  States. 

In  September  Admiral  Warren  arrived  at  Halifax. 
In  addition  to  his  naval  command,  he  was  invested  with 
powers  to  negotiate  a  provisional  accommodation  with 
the  United  States.  A  correspondence  on  the  subject 
ensued  between  himself  and  Mr.  Monroe,  as  the  repre- 
sentatives of  the  two  countries.  The  admiral  proposed 
an  immediate  cessation  of  hostilities,  with  a  view  to  the 
peaceful  arrangement  of  the  points  at  issue. 

Monroe  replied  that  his  government  was  willing  to 
accede  to  this  proposition,  provided  Warren  was  author- 
ized and  disposed  to  negotiate  terms  for  suspending  in 
the  future  the  impressment  of  American  seamen.  The 
British  Government  refused  to  relinquish  the  claim  to 
this  right  and  nothing  remained  but  war. 


FROM  OBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.         ^95 

On  March  4,  1813,  Madison  entered  u^Don  his  second 
term  of  service.  He  had  received  128  electoral  votes ; 
liis  opponent  DeWitt  Clinton,  89  votes.  The  congres- 
sional elections  had  resulted  in  a  large  majority  in  favor 
of  the  administration,  and  the  war  policy  seemed  to  be 
acceptable  to  a  large  majority  of  the  people,  though  a 
strong  party  was  opposed  to  it,  and  endeavored  to  ob- 
struct  the  measures  necessary  to  the  vigorous  prosecu- 
tion of  hostilities.  The  war  commenced  in  earnest  with 
the  appearance,  in  1813,  of  a  British  fleet  in  Chesapeake 
Bay,  and  in  March  the  whole  coast  of  the  United  States, 
with  the  exception  of  Ehode  Island,  New  Hampshire 
and  Massachusetts,  was  declared  in  a  state  of  blockade. 
The  long  series  of  engagements  on  land  and  water  during 
the  war  which  followed,  find  their  proper  place  in  the 
general  history  of  our  country. 

In  March,  1813,  soon  after  the  commencement  of  hos- 
tilities, the  Russian  minister  to  the  United  States  com- 
municated to  the  American  government  a  proposal  from 
the  Emperor  Alexander  to  mediate  between  the  belliger- 
ents. The  prox)osition  was  accepted,  and  the  president 
.appointed  commissioners  to  go  to  St.  Petersburg  to 
negotiate  under  the  mediation  of  the  emperor.  Great 
Britain  declined  the  Russian  mediation  in  September; 
iDut  in  November  the  American  government  was  in- 
formed that  that  power  was  prepared  to  negotiate  the 
terms  of  a  treaty  of  peace. 

Steps  were  at  once  taken  to  meet  this  proposal.  Mr. 
Clay  and  Mr.  Russell  were  added  to  the  commission  pre- 
viously appointed,  and  in  January,  1814,  joined  their 
associates  in  Europe.  In  August  of  the  same  year  the 
country  was  deeply  aroused  by  the  attack  on  the  capitol. 
A  British  force  of  5,000  men  ascended  the  Chesapeake, 


196  HIDDEN    TREASURES. 

landed  on  the  shores  of  the  Patuxent,  and  inarched  on 
Washington.  The  few  troops  hastily  collected  were 
wholly  unable  to  offer  any  effective  resistance  and  re- 
tired before  the  enemy,  who  iDroceeded  to  the  city, 
burned  the  capitol,  the  president's  house,  and  other 
IDublic  buildings,  and  returned  without  loss  to  their  ships. 
The  president  and  several  members  of  his  cabinet  were 
in  the  American  camp,  but  were  compelled  to  abandon 
the  city  in  order  to  avoid  capture. 

The  enemy  gained  little  by  their  movement,  and  the 
wanton  outrage  only  increased  the  bitterness  of  the 
people.  Among  the  public  occurrences  of  the  year  1814, 
the  meeting  of  the  Hartford  convention,  in  opposition  to 
the  continuance  of  the  war,  occupies  a  prominent  place. 
The  victory  at  New  Orleans,  however,  and  the  intelli- 
gence of  the  conclusion  of  the  treaty  of  peace,  termin- 
ated the  popular  indignation.  A  treaty  of  peace  had 
been  signed  by  the  United  States  commissioners  at  Ghent, 
on  December  4,  1814,  and  being  communicated  by  the 
president  to  the  senate,  was  ratified  by  that  body  in 
February,  1815. 

It  was  silent  on  the  paramount  question  of  impress- 
ment, and  left  the  commercial  regulations  between  the 
two  countries  for  subsequent  negotiation.  But  the 
country  was  tired  of  the  war,  and  the  treaty  was  hailed 
with  acclamation.  In  this  general  joy  no  one  person 
joined  more  heartily  than  did  Madison.  He  had  ac- 
quiesced reluctantly  to  the  commencement  of  hostilities, 
and  had  longed  for  peace  since  the  beginning.  The 
country  came  out  of  a  war,  which  cost  her  30,000  lives 
and  $1,000,000,  stronger  and  more  honored  than  before; 
thoroughly  convinced  of  her  own  power  and  resources, 


FROM  OBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.         197 

and  regarded  with  increased  respect  by  all  the  nations  of 
the  world. 

In  1815  a  commercial  treaty  was  concluded  with 
Oreat  Britain  based  upon  a  i^olicy  of  perfect  reciprocity. 
The  subjects  of  impressment  and  blockades  were  not 
embraced  in  it.  The  return  of  peace  disbanded  the 
organized  opposition  to  the  administration,  and  the  re- 
mainder of  Madison's  term  was  undisturbed  by  exciting 
events. 

In  April,  1816,  congress  incorporated  a  national  bank 
with  a  capital  of  $35,000,000,  to  continue  for  twenty  years. 
The  president  had  vetoed  a  similar  bill  in  January  of  the 
preceding  year,  but  now  approved  of  it,  from  a  convic- 
tion that  the  derangement  of  the  currency  made  it  nec- 
essary. It  encountered  strong  opposition,  but  was  sup- 
ported by  Henry  Clay  and  other  friends  of  the  president, 
and  passed  both  houses. 

In  December,  1816,  Madison  sent  in  his  last  annual 
message  to  congress.  Its  recommendations  were  con- 
sidered judicious  and  liberal,  and  secured  the  general 
ax)probation  of  the  country. 

On  March  4,  1817,  his  long  official  relations  with  the 
country  terminated,  and  he  retired  to  his  farm  at  Mont- 
pelier,  Virginia.  In  this  pleasant  retreat  he  passed  the 
remainder  of  his  days  in  agricultural  pursuits.  Like 
most  of  our  famous  men,  his  matrimonial  connection 
was  a  source  of  great  advantage  to  him.  During  his 
later  years,  in  spite  of  his  ill-health,  Madison  still  busied 
himself  in  service  to  his  neighbors. 

While  at  school,  for  months  together,  he  had  slept 
but  three  hours  out  of  the  twenty-four.     He  was  not  an 
orator  naturally;  many  others  of  his  schoolmates,  it  is 
stated,  were   far  superior  to  him   in   natural  abilities. 


198  HIDDEN    TREASURES. 

Why,  then,  did  he  succeed,  while  so  many  others  failed? 
The  strong  feature  whereby  he  won  success  was,  like 
that  of  many  others,  his  capacity  for  hard  work. 

As  to  Madison's  principles,  it  will  be  remembered 
that  he  was  defeated  in  1777,  because  he  refused  to  treat 
the  people  to  liquor.  In  1829  he  sat  in  the  Virginia  Con- 
vention to  reform  the  old  constitution.  When  he  rose 
to  utter  a  few  words  the  members  left  their  seats  and 
crowded  around  the  venerable  figure  dressed  in  black, 
with  his  thin  gray  hair  x)owdered  as  in  former  times,  to 
catch  the  low  whisper  of  his  voice.  This  was  his  last 
appearance  in  public. 

If  not  endowed  with  the  very  first  order  of  ability, 
Madison  had  trained  his  mind  until  it  was  symmetrical 
and  vigorous.  An  unfailing  accuracy  and  precision 
marked  the  operation  of  his  faculties.  He  was  naturally 
deficient  in  i)owers  of  oratory,  and  yet  made  himself  one 
of  the  most  effective  sx)eakers  of  his  time,  although  the 
epoch  was  illustrated  by  such  men  in  his  own  State  as 
Patrick  Henry,  Hichard  Henry  Lee,  George  Mason  and 
Edmund  Pendleton,  to  say  nothing  of  Jefferson  and 
Monroe. 

Jefferson's  testimony  on  this  point  is  strong:  He 
says :  ^'Mr.  Madison  came  into  the  house  in  1776,  a  new 
member,  and  young;  which  circumstances,  concurring 
with  his  extreme  modesty,  prevented  his  venturing  him- 
self in  debate  before  his  removal  to  the  council  of  state 
in  November,  1777.  Thence  he  went  to  Congress,  then 
consisting  of  but  few  members.  Trained  in  these  suc- 
cessive schools,  he  acquired  a  habit  of  self-possession 
which  x)laced  at  ready  command  the  rich  resources  of 
his  luminous  mind,  and  of  his  extensive  information, 
acquired  by  intense   application,  which  rendered  him 


FROM  OBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.         199 

eventu2;lly  the  first  of  every  assembly  of  which  he  after* 
ward  became  a  member. 

Never  wandering  from  his  subject  into  vain  declama^ 
tion,  but  pursuing  it  closely,  in  language  pure,  classical, 
and  copious,  always  soothing  the  feelings  of  his  adversa- 
ries by  civilities  and  softness  of  expression.  He  steadily 
rose  to  the  high  station  which  he  held  in  the  great  na- 
tional convention  of  1787.  In  that  of  Virginia  which 
followed,  he  sustained  the  new  constitution  in  all  its 
parts,  bearing  off  the  ]Dalm  against  the  logic  of  George 
Mason,  and  the  burning  eloquence  of  Mr.  Henry.  With 
these  consummate  powers  was  united  a  pure  and  spot- 
less virtue  which  no  calumny  has  ever  attempted  to  sully.'^ 

From  his  earliest  years  he  was  an  intense  scholar. 
His  memory  was  singularly  tenacious,  and  what  he  clearly 
understood  was  ever  afterward  retained.  He  thus  laid 
up  that  great  store  of  learning  which,  in  the  conventions 
of  1787-8  especially  proved  so  effective,  and  latter  made 
him  president.  After  Washington,  no  public  man  of  his 
time  was  more  widely  known  or  more  highly  loved  and 
respected. 

The  public  confidence  in,  and  respect  for  his  honesty 
and  singleness  of  aim  toward  the  good  of  the  country 
ripened  into  an  affectionate  attachment.  His  bearing 
and  address  were  characterized  by  simplicity  and  modesty. 
He  resembled  a  quiet  student,  rather  than  the  Jiead  of  a 
great  nation.    He  was  a  perfect  gentleman. 

At  another  time  Jefferson  said  of  him  :  "From  three 
and  thirty  years'  trial  I  can  say  conscientiously  that  I  do 
not  know  in  the  whole  world  a  man  of  purer  integrity, 
more  dispassionate,  disinterested,  and  devoted  to  true 
republicanism  ;  nor  could  I  in  the  whole  scope  of  Amer- 
ica and  Europe  point    \it  an  abler  head."    What  more 


200  HIDDEN   TREASURES. 

could  be  said  ?    0  that  we  could  have  such  a  monument, 
left  to  mark  our  memory. 


James  Monroe. 


THE  fifth  president  of  the  United  States  was  a  native 
of  the  grand  Old  Dominion,  being  born  in  West- 
moreland county,  Virginia,  April  28,  1758.  Like  his 
predecessor,  Madison,  he  was  the  son  of  a  planter.  An- 
other strange  incident: — Within  sight  of  Blue  Ridge 
in  Virginia,  lived  three  presidents  of  the  United  States, 
whose  i^ublic  career  commenced  in  the  revolutionary 
times  and  whose  political  faith  was  the  same  throughout 
a  long  series  of  years.  These  were  Thomas  Jefferson, 
James  Madison  and  James  Monroe. 

In  early  youthhood  Monroe  received  a  good  educa- 
tion, but  left  school  to  join  the  army  and  soon  after  was 
commissioned  a  lieutenant.  He  took  an  active  part  in 
the  campaign  on  the  Hudson,  and  in  the  attack  on  Tren- 
ton, at  the  head  of  a  small  detachment,  he  captured  one 
of  the  British  batteries.  On  this  occasion  he  received  a 
ball  in  the  shoulder,  and  was  promoted  to  a  captaincy. 
As  aid-de-camp  to  Lord  Sterling,  Avith  the  rank  of  major, 
he  served  in  the  campaign  of  1777  and  1778,  and  dis- 
tinguished himself  in  the  battles  of  Brandywine,  Ger- 
mantown  and  Monmouth. 

Leaving  the  army,  he  returned  to  Virginia  and  com- 
menced the  study  of  law  under  Thomas  Jefferson,  then 


FROM    OBSCURITY    TO   GREAT    HONOR.  201 

Oovernor  of  the  State.  When  the  British  appeared  soon 
afterward  in  the  State,  Monroe  exerted  himself  to  the 
utmost  in  organizing  the  militia  of  the  lower  counties ; 
and  when  the  enemy  proceeded  southward,  Jefferson 
sent  him  as  military  commissioner  to  the  army  in  South 
Carolina. 

In  1782,  he  was  elected  to  the  assembly  of  Virginia 
from  the  county  of  King  George,  and  was  appointed  by 
that  body,  although  but  twenty-three  years  of  age,  a 
member  of  the  executive  council.  In  1783  he  was  chosen 
a  delegate  to  congress  for  a  period  of  three  years,  and 
took  his  seat  on  December  13th.  Convinced  that  it  was 
impossible  to  govern  the  people  under  the  old  articles  of 
confederation,  he  advocated  an  extension  of  the  powers 
of  congress,  and  in  1785  moved  to  invest  in  that  body 
power  to  regulate  the  trade  between  the  States. 

The  resolution  was  referred  to  a  committee  of  which 
he  was  chairman,  and  a  report  was  made  in  favor  of  the 
measure.  This  led  to  the  convention  of  Annapolis,  and 
the  subsequent  adoption  of  the  Federal  Constitution, 
Monroe  also  exerted  himself  in  devising  a  system  for  the 
settlement  of  the  public  lands,  and  was  appointed  a 
member  of  the  committee  to  decide  the  boundary 
between  Massachusetts  and  ISTew  York.  He  strongly 
opposed  the  relinquishment  of  the  right  to  navigate  the 
Mississippi  river  as  demanded  by  Spain. 

Once  more  we  see  the  value  of  a  proper  and  ele- 
vating marriage,  as  a  feature  in  the  success  of  our  great 
men.  In  1785  he  married  a  daughter  of  Peter  Kortright, 
a  lady  of  refinement  and  culture.  He,  being  inelligible 
for  the  next  three  years  according  to  the  laws,  settled  in 
Fredericksburg. 

In   1787  he  was  re-elected  to  the  general  assembly, 


202  HIDDEN   TREASURES. 

and  in  1788  was  chosen  a  delegate  to  the  Virginia  con- 
vention to  decide  upon  the  adoption  of  the  Federal  Con- 
stitution. He  was  one  of  the  minority  who  opposed  the 
instrument  as  submitted,  being  apprehensive  that  with- 
out amendment  it  would  confer  too  much  authority 
upon  the  general  government.  The  course  of  the 
minority  in  Congress  was  approved  by  the  great  mass  of 
the  population  of  the  Old  Dominion,  and  Monroe  was 
chosen  United  States  Senator  in  1790.  In  the  Senate  he 
became  a  strong  representative  of  the  anti-Federal  party, 
and  acted  with  it  until  his  term  expired  in  1794. 

In  May  of  that  year  he  was  appointed  Minister  Pleni- 
potentiary to  France,  and  was  received  in  Paris  with 
enthusiastic  demonstrations  of  respect.  His  marked  ex- 
hibition of  sympathy  with  the  French  Republic  dis- 
pleased the  administration.  John  Jay  had  been  sent  to 
negotiate  a  treaty  with  England,  and  the  course  pursued 
by  Monroe  was  considered  injudicious,  as  tending  to 
throw  serious  obstacles  in  the  way  of  the  proposed  ne- 
gotiations. On  the  conclusion  of  the  treaty  his  alleged 
failure  to  present  it  in  its  true  character  to  the  French 
government  excited  anew  the  displeasure  of  the  cabinet; 
and  in  August,  1796,  he  was  recalled  under  an  informal 
censure. 

On  his  return  to  America  he  published  a  'View  of  the 
conduct  of  the  Executive  in  the  Foreign  Affairs  of  the 
United  States,'  which  widened  the  breach  between  him 
and  the  administration,  but  socially  Monroe  remained 
upon  good  terms  with  both  AVashington  and  Jay. 

He  was  Governor  of  Virginia  from  1799  to  1802  and 
at  the  close  of  his  term  was  appointed  Envoy  Extraordi- 
nary to  the  French  government  to  negotiate,  in  conjunc- 
tion with  the  resident  minister,  Mr.  Livingston,  for  the 


FROM  OBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.         203 

purchase  of  Louisiana,  or  a  right  of  depot  for  the  United 
States  on  the  Mississippi.  Within  a  fortnight  after  his 
arrival  in  Paris  the  ministers  secured,  for  $15,000,000, 
the  entire  territory  of  Orleans  and  district  of  Louisiana. 

In  the  same  year  he  was  commissioned  Minister 
Plenipotentiary  to  England,  and  endeavored  to  conclude 
a  convention  for  the  protection  of  neutral  rights,  and 
against  the  impressment  of  seamen.  In  the  midst  of 
these  negotiations  he  was  directed  to  proceed  to  Madrid 
as  Minister  Extraordinary  and  Plenipotentiarj^  to  adjust 
the  difficulties  between  the  United  States  and  Spain,  in 
relation  to  the  boundaries  of  the  new  purchase  of  Louis- 
iana. In  this  he  failed,  and  in  1S06  he  wa§  recalled  to 
England  to  act  with  Mr.  Pickney  in  further  negotiation 
for  the  protection  of  neutral  rights.  On  the  last  day  of 
that  year  a  treaty  was  concluded,  but  because  of  the 
omission  of  any  provision  against  the  impressment  of 
seamen,  and  its  doubtfulness  in  relation  to  other  leading 
points  the  president  sent  it  back  for  revisal.  All  efforts 
to  attain  this  failed  and  Monroe  returned  to  America. 

The  time  was  approaching  for  the  election  of  a  presi- 
dent, and  a  considerable  body  of  the  Republican  party 
had  brought  Monroe  forward  as  their  candidate,  but  the 
X)reference  of  Jefferson  for  Madison  was  well  known  and 
of  course  had  its  influence.  Monroe  believed  that  the 
rejection  of  the  treaty  and  the  predilection  expressed  for 
his  rival  indicated  hostility  on  the  part  of  the  retiring 
President,  and  a  correspondence  on  the  subject  ensued. 

Jefferson  candidly  explained  his  course  and  assured 
him  that  his  preference  was  based  solelj^  upon  solicitude 
for  the  success  of  the  pai-t}^,  the  great  majority  of  which 
had  declared  in  the  favor  of  Madison.  The  misunder- 
standing ceased  and  Monroe  withdrew  from  the  cans^ass. 


204  HIDDEN    TREASURES. 

In  ISIO  he  was  again  elected  to  the  general  assembly  of 
Yirginia,  and  in  1811  once  more  Governor  of  the  State. 

In  the  same  year  he  was  appointed  Secretary  of  State 
by  President  Madison,  and  after  the  capture  of  the 
capitol  in  1814,  he  was  appointed  to  take  charge  of  the 
war  department,  being  both  Secretary  of  State  and  Sec- 
retary of  War  at  once.  He  found  the  treasury  exhausted 
and  the  national  credit  at  the  lowest  ebb,  but  he  set  about 
the  task  of  infusing  order  and  efficiency  into  the  depart- 
ments under  his  charge,  and  proposed  an  increase  of  40,- 
000  men  in  the  army  by  levying  recruits  throughout  the 
whole  country. 

His  attention  was  also  directed  to  the  defence  of  'New 
Orleans,  and  finding  the  public  credit  completely  pros- 
trated, he  pledged  his  private  means  as  subsidary  to  the 
credit  of  the  Government,  and  enabled  the  city  to  suc- 
cessfully oppose  the  forces  of  the  enemy.  He  was  the 
confidential  adviser  of  President  Madison  in  the  measures 
for  the  re-establishment  of  the  public  credit  of  the  coun- 
try and  the  regulation  of  the  foreign  relations  of  the 
United  States,  and  continued  to  serve  as  Secretary  of 
State  until  the  close  of  Madison's  term  in  1817. 

In  that  year  he  succeeded  to  the  Presidency  himself, 
lyj  an  electoral  vote  of  183  out  of  217,  as  the  candidate 
of  the  party  now  generally  known  as  Democratic. 

His  Cabinet  was  composed  of  some  of  the  ablest  men 
in  the  country  in  either  party.  Soon  after  his  inaugura- 
tion President  Monroe  made  a  tour  through  the  Eastern 
and  Middle  States,  during  which  he  thoroughly  inspected 
arsenals,  naval  depots,  fortifications  and  garrisons ;  re- 
viewed military  companies,  corrected  public  abuses,  and 
studied  the  capabilities  of  the  country  with  reference  to 
future  hostilities. 


FROM  OBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.         205 

On  this  tour  he  wore  the  undress  uniform  of  a  conti- 
nental officer.  In  every  point  of  view  this  journey  was 
k  success.  Party  lines  seemed  about  to  disappear  and 
the  country  to  return  to  its  long  past  state  of  union. 
The  President  was  not  backward  in  his  assurances  of  a 
strong  desire  on  his  part  that  such  should  be  the  case. 
The  course  of  the  administration  was  in  conformity  to 
these  assurances,  and  secured  the  support  of  an  over- 
whelming majoi'ity  of  the  people. 

The  great  majority  of  the  recommendations  in  the 
President's  message  were  approved  by  large  majorities. 
The  tone  of  debate  was  far  more  moderate  ;  few  of  the 
bitter  speeches  which  had  been  the  fashion  in  the  past 
were  uttered,  and  this  period  has  passed  into  history  as 
the  ^^Era  of  good  feeling."  Among  the  important  events 
of  the  first  term  of  President  Monroe  was  the  consum- 
mation in  1818  of  a  treaty  between  the  United  States 
and  Grreat  Britain  in  relation  to  the  New  Foundland 
fisheries — the  interpretation  of  the  terms  of  which  we 
have  of  late  heard  so  much ;  the  restoration  of  slaves  and 
other  subjects  ;  also  the  admission  into  the  Union  of  the 
States  of  Mississippi,  Illinois  and  Maine  ;  in  1819  Spain 
ceded  to  the  United  States  her  possessions  in  East  and 
West  Florida  with  the  adjacent  islands. 

In  1820  Monroe  was  re-elected  almost  unanimously, 
receiving  231  out  of  the  232  electoral  votes.  On  August 
10th,  1821,  Missouri  became  one  of  the  United  States, 
after  lorolonged  and  exciting  debates,  resulting  in  the 
celebrated  "Missouri  Compromise,"  by  which  slavery  was 
permitted  in  Missouri  but  prohibited  forever  elsewhere 
north  of  parallel  thirty-six  degrees  and  thirty  min- 
utes. Other  events  of  public  importance  during  the 
second  term  of  President  Monroe  were  the  recognition 


206  HIDDEN    TREASURES. 

in  1S22  of  the  indepenence  of  Mexico,  and  the  provinces 
in  South  America,  formerly  under  the  dominion  of  Spain; 
and  the  promulgation  in  his  message  of  December  2, 
1S23,  of  the  polic}^  of  ^neither  entangling  ourselves  in  the 
broils  of  Europe,  nor  suffering  the  powers  of  the  old 
world  to  interfere  with  the  affairs  of  the  new,'  which  has 
become  so  famous  as  the  "Monroe  Doctrine."  On  this 
occasion  the  president  declared  that  any  attempt  on  the 
part  of  foreign  powers  to  extend  their  system  to  any 
part  of  this  hemisphere  would  be  regarded  by  the  United 
States  as  dangerous  to  our  peace  and  prosperity,  and 
would  certainly  be  opposed. 

On  March  4,  1S25,  Monroe  retired  from  office  and  re- 
turned to  his  residence  at  Oak  Hill  in  Virginia. 

He  was  chosen  a  justice  of  the  peace,  and  as  such  sat 
in  the  county  court.  In  1S29  he  became  a  member  of 
the  Virginia  convention  to  revise  the  constitution,  and 
was  chosen  to  preside  over  the  deliberations  of  that  body 
but  he  was  obliged,  on  account  of  ill-health,  to  resign 
Ms  position  in  that  body  and  return  to  his  home. 

Although  Monroe  had  received  $350,000  for  his  public 
services  alone,  he  was  greatlj^  harrassed  with  creditors 
toward  the  latter  part  of  his  life.  Toward  the  last  he 
made  his  home  with  his  son-in-law,  Samuel  L.  Gouver- 
neur  of  New  York  city,  where  he  was  originally  buried, 
but  in  1S30  he  was  removed  to  Richmond  with  great  pomp 
and  re-interred  in  Holley^vood  Cemetery. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  held  the  reins  of  govern- 
ment at  an  important  time  and  admistered  it  with  pru- 
dence, discretion,  and  a  single  ej^e  to  the  general  welfare. 
He  went  further  than  any  of  his  predecessors  in  devel- 
oping the  resources  of  the  country.  He  encouraged  the 
arni}^,  increased  the  navy,  augmented  the  national  de- 


FROM  OBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.         207 

fences,  protected  commerce,  approved  of  the  United 
States  Bank,  and  infused  vigor  into  every  department  of 
the  public  service. 

His  honesty,  good  faith,  and  simplicity  were  generally 
acknowledged,  and  disarmed  the  political  rancor  of  the 
strongest  opponents.  Madison  thought  the  country  had 
never  fully  appreciated  the  robust  understanding  of 
Monroe.  In  person,  Monroe  was  tall  and  well-formed, 
with  light  complexin  and  blue  eyes.  The  expression  of 
his  countenance  was  an  accurate  index  of  his  simplicity, 
benevolence,  and  integrity.  The  country  never  fully 
appreciated  Monroe,  partly  on  account  of  his  never  hav- 
ing gained  distinction  as  an  orator. 


Lewis  Cass. 


A  MAN  worthy  of  no  small  attention  was  Lewis  Cass. 
Born  at  Exeter,  New  Hampshire,  October  9th,  1782. 
He  served  in  the  war  of  1812,  rising  to  the  rank  of  major 
in  the  army.  He  was  a  school-fellow  with  Daniel  Web- 
ster, became  a  school  teacher  at  Wilmington,  Delaware, 
and  walking  from  that  place  to  Ohio,  where  his  parents 
moved,  began  the  practice  of  law  in  Zanesville  in  1802. 
In  1806  he  married  and  soon  after  was  elected  to  the 
legislature  of  Ohio.  He  performed  a  most  conspicuous 
part  in  the  Burr  trial,  favoring  the  law  which  caused  the 
arrest  of  the  supposed  conspirator.  He  became  a  colonel 
in  the  war  of  1812,  being  included  in  the  surrender  of 
General  Hull,  of  Detroit,  and  was  instrumental  in  bring- 


208  HIDDEN    TREASURES. 

ing  about  that  General's  arrest  on  the  charge  of  coward- 
ice and  treason.  He  was  afterward  exchanged  and  served 
as  aid  to  General  Harrison  in  the  battle  of  the  Thames. 
He  was  appointed  military  governor  of  Michigan  in  the 
autumn  of  1813,  having  risen  to  the  position  of  Brigadier 
General. 

In  1815  he  purchased  for  $12,000  the  whole  plat  of 
Detroit,  and  the  subsequent  rise  made  him  immensely 
rich.  He  became  Secretary  of  War  under  Jackson  in 
1831.  He  next  became  minister  to  France  in  1842. 
Three  years  after  this  he  was  elected  United  States 
senator  from  Michigan,  and  resigned  in  1848  to  become 
a  candidate  for  the  presidency,  but  a  division  in  his  jparty 
caused  the  election  of  Taylor.  He  was  then  re-elected 
to  fill  the  vacancy  caused  by  his  resignation,  and  again  re- 
elected in  1854  for  a  full  term  of  six  years.  He  supported 
measures  favorable  to  the  promotion  of  slavery  notwith- 
standing the  Michigan  legislature  had  instructed  him 
to  vote  otherwise.  He  favored  Douglass'  Kansas-Ne- 
braska bill. 

He  warmly  favored  Buchanan's  nomination  and  be- 
came his  Secretary  of  State,  but  promptly  resigned  when 
the  president  refused  to  reinforce  Fort  Sumter;  thus 
closing  a  career  of  over  fifty  years  of  almost  continuous 
public  servic.  He,  however,  gave  his  support  from  this 
time  to  the  Union  and  lived  to  see  that  triumphant 
suppression  of  treason.  He  died  on  the  18tli  day  of 
June,  1866.  He  was  a  man  of  pure  integrity,  great 
ability,  a  fine  scholar  and  an  effective  public  speaker. 
He  was  exceedingly  generous  in  all  worthy  petitions 
which  his  great  wealth  enabled  him  to  gratify  unspar- 
ingly. He  was  also  an  author  of  some  note. 
13 


FROM  OBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.         209 


John  C,  Calhoun, 


THE  father  of  John  C.  Calhoun  was  born  in  Ireland ; 
his  mother  was  the  daughter  of  an  Irish  Presbyte- 
rian, a  lady  of  great  worth.  Most  of  our  illustrious  men 
owe  their  success  to  a  noble  mother,  and  so  it  was  with 
Calhoun.  He  was  early  taught  to  read  the  Bible,  and  his 
parents  sought  to  impress  upon  him  their  Calvanistic 
doctrines. 

As  a  child  he  was  grave  and  thoughtful,  and  at  the 
age  of  thirteen  he  studied  history  so  perseveringly  as  to 
impair  his  health.  His  father  died  about  this  time,  and 
a  glimpse  of  his  loving  disposition  can  be  obtained  from 
the  fact  that  notwithstanding  that  he  greatly  desired  an 
education,  still  he  would  not  leave  the  farm  until  assured 
of  the  means  of  prosecuting  his  studies  without  impair- 
ing his  mother's  comfort.  Consequently  he  had  few  of 
the  advantages  to  which  systematic  schooling  is  con- 
ducive until  late  in  youth.  He,  however,  made  a  satis- 
factory arrangement  with  his  family,  who  agreed  to 
furnish  him  money  for  a  course  of  seven  years. 

He  had  decided  to  study  law,  but  declared  that  he 
preferred  being  a  common  planter  to  a  half-educated 
lawyer.  He  soon  entered  Yale  College,  where  he  gradu- 
ated with  distinction.  President  Dwight  is  said  to  have 
remarked  ^That  young  man  has  ability  enough  to  be 
President  of  the  United  States  and  will  become  one  yet.' 
Before  returning  home  he  spent  eighteen  months  in  the 
law-school  at  Litchfield,  Connecticut.     He  also  culti 


210  HIDDEN    TREASURES. 

vated  extempore  speaking,  and  nnally  returned  South  to 
finish  his  studies. 

Being  admitted  to  the  bar  he  began  practice ;  in  1808 
was  elected  to  the  Legislature,  and  in  1811  to  Congress. 
The  war  party  had  gained  complete  control  of  the  House, 
and  a  speaker  was  chosen  by  the  Democratic  party.  Cal- 
houn was  placed  on  the  Committee  of  Foreign  Relations, 
and  he  framed  the  report  that  the  time  had  come  to 
choose  between  tame  submission  and  bold  resistance. 
Calhoun  was  chosen  chairman  of  this  committee,  and 
was  a  staunch  supporter  of  the  administration  through- 
out. The  increasing  financial  distress  led  to  the  National 
Bank  debates,  in  which  he  was  a  leading  figure.  The 
necessity  of  this  institution  being  admitted,  to  Calhoun 
was  intrusted  entire  management  of  the  bill,  and  to  him 
is  due  the  passage  of  the  charter  of  the  bank. 

He  was  a  most  efficient  agent  of  internal  improve- 
ments, carrying  a  bill  through  the  House  by  a,  vote  of 
86  to  84,  authorizing  a  million  and  a  half  to  be  paid  by 
the  United  States  bank  and  the  income  on  seven  mil- 
lions more  to  be  devoted  to  internal  improvements. 
This  bill  passed  the  Senate  twenty  to  fifteen,  but  was 
vetoed  by  the  president,  denying  the  authority  of  con- 
gress to  appropriate  money  for  any  such  purpose.  He 
next  became  Secretary  of  War,  under  Monroe.  He  found 
the  war  department  in  a  demoralized  condition — bills 
to  the  amount  of  $50,000  outstanding.  These  Calhoun 
promptly  settled  and  secured  the  passage  of  a  bill  reor- 
ganizing the  staff  of  the  army.  President  Monroe  bring- 
ing  before  the  cabinet  the  question  of  whether  he  should 
sign  the  Missouri  Compromise,  Calhoun  gave  it  as  his 
oijinion  that  it  was  constitutional,  supporting  the  view 
that  it  was  the  duty  of  the  president  to  sign  the  bill. 


FROM  OBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.         211 

He  was  very  seriously  thought  of  as  Monroe^s  suc- 
cessor, the  great  State  of  Pennsylvania  supporting  him 
at  first,  but  General  Jackson's  great  military  fame  won 
for  him  the  nomination,  and  Calhoun  was  almost  unani- 
mously selected  for  vice-president. 

The  tariff  question  was  an  all-absorbing  issue,  and  on 
this  question  the  Democrats  divided — the  northern  wing 
being  for  protection,  under  the  lead  of  Martin  Yan 
Buren ;  while  the  South  was  unanimous  for  free  trade, 
led  by  Calhoun.  A  rupture  between  the  president  and 
Mr.  Calhoun  now  arose ;  this  and  other  causes  led  to 
Mr.  Calhoun's  distrust  of  the  president,  and  the  belief 
that  he  could  not  be  depended  upon  to  settle  the  tariff 
question;  therefore  he  brought  out  his  nullification 
doctrine. 

This  doctrine  was  founded  on  the  Virginia  and  Ken- 
tucky resolutions  of  1798-9  which  declared  the  constitu- 
tion to  be  a  compact,  each  State  forming  an  integral  part. 
It  also  declared  that  the  government  created  by  the  com- 
pact was  not  made  the  final  judge,  each  party  having  a 
right  to  ratify  or  annul  that  judgment  as  an  individual 
State,  that  is,  such  laws  as  were  deemed  unconstitutional. 
This  doctrine  he  prepared,  and  the  paper  was  presented 
to  the  legislature  where  it  became  known  as  the  South 
Carolina  Exposition.  The  next  we  see  of  it  is  in  the 
Senate  of  the  United  States,  where  the  doctrine  is  brought 
forward  by  Mr.  Hayne,  which  led  to  his  world-famed 
debate  with  Mr.  Webster. 

Then  followed  the  passage  of  the  tariff  bill  and  the 
nullification  act,  whereby  South  Carolina  signified  her 
determination  to  resist  the  laws;  and  the  final  com- 
promise measure  of  Henry  Clay  which  happly  settled  the 
difficulty  at  this  time.    Calhoun  was  now  a  senator  and 


^12  HIDDEN   TREASURES. 

soon  formed  one  of  the  powerful  trio  in  opposition  to 
president  Jackson.  He  characterized  Jackson's  distri- 
bution of  the  surplus  left  by  the  United  States  bank  as 
an  attempt  to  seize  onto  the  power  of  Congress  and  unite, 
in  his  own  hands,  the  sword  and  purse. 

He  declared  that  he  had  placed  himself  wdth  the 
minority  to  serve  his  gallant  State,  nor  would  he  turn  on 
his  heel  if  thereby  he  could  be  placed  at  the  head  of 
the  government.  He  thought  that  corruptioil  had  taken 
such  a  hold  of  it  that  any  man  who  attempted  reform 
would  not  be  sustained.  The  American  Anti-slavery 
Society  having  sent  tracts  denunciatory  to  slavery 
throughout  the  South,  and  as  it  was  believed  that  such 
measures  had  a  tendency  to  incite  the  slaves  to  insur- 
rection, Calhoun  brought  in  a  bill  subjecting  to  severe 
punishment  any  postmaster  who  should  knowingly  re- 
ceive any  such  matter  for  distribution  in  any  State 
which  should  pass  a  law  prohibiting  the  circulation  of 
such.  The  bill  failed  on  a  final  vote,  twenty-five  to 
nineteen. 

He  maintained  that  Congress  had  no  jurisdiction  over 
the  subject  of  slavery;  that  it  was  a  recognized  institu- 
tion; that  the  inequality  of  the  negro  was  manifest; 
that  in  slavery  they  held  their  true  position  and  to 
change  their  condition  was  to  place  them  wholly  depen- 
dent upon  the  State  for  support.  Calhoun,  believed 
that  the  relations  between  the  races  was  right,  morally 
and  politically,  and  demanded  that  the  institution  of 
slavery  be  protected. 

The  bill  recommended  by  Jackson,  to  restrict  the  sale 
of  public  lands  to  actual  settlers  and  that  in  limited 
quantities,  drew  from  him  a  most  fiery  speech.  He 
claimed  that  the  measure  was  really  in  the  interest  of 


FROM  OBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.         213 

speculators  who  had  loaded  themselves  with  land,  and 
whose  interest  now  was  to  restrict  the  sale  and  thus  en- 
hance the  price  of  their  ill-gotten  domain.  He  also 
claimed  that  people  high  in  office  had  speculated  largely, 
even  some  in  near  relation  to  the  president. 

This  brought  from  Jackson  a  letter  that  he  should 
either  retract  his  words  or  bring  the  matter  before  Con- 
gress as  an  act  of  impeachment.  The  sole  power  of  im- 
peachment lies  within  the  House  of  Representatives, 
and,  while  the  senate  had  previously  passed  an  act  de- 
nouncing Jackson's  methods,  yet  the  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives was  overwhelmingly  in  his  favor,  and  he 
must  have  known  that  no  impeachment  could  pass 
this  body. 

Jackson  realized  that  such  charges  needed  his  atten- 
tion. Calhoun  read  his  letter  before  the  senate  pro- 
nouncing it  a  cowardly  attempt  to  intimidate,  and  re- 
peated his  charges ;  stating  that  not  only  persons  high 
in  authority  were  implied  in  the  charge,  but  the  presi- 
sident's  nephew,  calling  his  name,  was  a  large  speculator. 

During  the  administration  of  Van  Buren  came  the 
great  financial  crash  of  our  history;  the  aggregate  of  the 
failures  in  New  York  and  New  Orleans  alone  amounting 
to  $150,-000,00.  All  this  trouble  had  been  foretold  by 
Calhoun. 

Mr.  Van  Buren's  plan  of  an  independent  treasury, 
which  created  a  place  for  all  the  surplus  to  accumulate, 
met  with  Calhoun's  approval,  and  he  accordingly  sepa- 
rated from  Webster  and  Clay  tO  act  in  support  of  what 
was  right,  notwithstanding  -his  personal  feelings  toward 
Van  Buren.  This  illustrates  the  principle  of  Mr.  Cal- 
houn. Notwithstanding  his  known  idea  of  right  and 
wrong,  this  aroused  the  indignation  of  his  late  allies, 


214  HIDDEN   TREASURES. 

who  could  ill  spare  his  vote  and  powerful  influence. 
The  fact  that  this  measure,  which  he  had  determined  to 
support,  is  still  in  existence,  proves  conclusively  the 
wisdom  of  Calhoun  as  against  both  Webster  and  Clay, 

Yet,  in  reply  to  Calhoun's  speech  on  the  Independent 
Treasury  bill,  Clay  used  the  strongest  language,  charging 
him  with  desertion,  and  making  his  whole  life  the  subject 
of  one  of  those  powerful  invectives  so  characteristic  with 
him.  Calhoun  answered ;  Clay  replied  on  the  spot,  and 
Calhoun  answered  back. 

This  was  a  wonderful  example  of  the  different  styles 
of  oratory  of  which  each  was  master ;  Clay,  of  declama- 
tion, invective,  wit,  humor  and  bitter  sarcasm  ;  Calhoun 
of  clear  statement  and  close  reasoning.  This  contest, 
aside  from  its  oratorical  power,  deserves  a  place  in  his- 
tory. In  answer  to  Clay's  attack  on  his  life  he  replied : 
"  I  rest  my  public  character  upon  it,  and  desire  it  to  be 
read  by  all  who  will  do  me  justice." 

As  a  debater,  where  close  reasoning  was  essential,  he 
was  an  acknowledged  leader.  The  tariff  laws  of  Jack- 
son's time  which  brought  this  nullification  doctrine  prom- 
inently before  the  country  were  acknowledged  to  be 
drawn  in  favor  of  the  North,  as  against  the  South.  The 
least  that  can  be  said  is  that  he  was  honest ;  and  that  he 
was  able  to  defend  his  doctrine  no  one  disputes.  Hap- 
pily manufacturing  interests  are  now  investing  in  the 
South,  and  the  tariff  question  will  right  itself. 

Mr.  Calhoun  was  brilliant  and  his  great  aim  in  life 
was  the  defense  of  slavery.  He  regarded  that  institu- 
tion as  essential  to  the  very  existence  of  the  Southern 
States ;  therefore  thought  that  the  abolition  of  slavery 
would  tend  to  the  overthrow  of  the  South.  lie  declared 
that  the  Constitution  should  be  revised. 


FROM  OBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.         215 

Although  never  publicly  proclaiming  such  a  method, 
yet  it  seemed  that  his  idea  was  to  elect  two  Presidents, 
one  from  the  slave  and  one  from  the  free  States,  and  that 
no  bill  of  Congress  could  be  ratified  without  their  ap- 
proval. But  if  Mr.  Calhoun  was  honest  in  this,  as  he  no 
doubt  was,  yet  his  measure  would  tend  to  take  the  power 
from  the  many  and  place  it  within  the  few,  which  is  con- 
trary to  democratic  ideas  of  good  government. 

It  was  on  March  13th,  1850,  that  he  fell  exhausted  at 
the  close  of  his  speech  in  answer  to  General  Cass,  and 
died  soon  after.  Mr.  Webster's  funeral  oration  delivered 
in  the  Senate  upon  the  announcement  of  his  death  is  a 
most  eloquent  yet  unexaggerated  account  of  the  virtues 
of  John  C.  Calhoun. 

"Calhoun  was  a  part  of  his  own  intellectual  character, 
which  grew  out  of  the  qualities  of  his  mind.  It  was 
plain,  strong,  wise,  condensed,concise,  still  always  severe. 
Rejecting  ornament,  not  often  seeking  illustration ;  his 
power  consisted  in  the  plainness  of  his  proiDOsitions,  the 
clearness  of  his  logic,  and  the  earnestness  and  energy  of 
his  manner.  'No  man  was  more  respectful  to  others ;  no 
man  carried  himself  with  greater  decorum ;  no  man  with 
superior  dignity.  I  have  not,  in  public  or  private  life, 
known  a  man  more  assiduous  in  the  discharge  of  his 
duties.  Out  of  the  Chambers  of  Congress  he  was  either 
devoting  himself  to  the  acquisition  of  knowledge  per- 
taining to  the  immediate  subject  of  the  duty  before  him, 
or  else  he  was  indulging  in  those  social  interviews  in 
which  he  so  much  delighted. 

"There  was  a  charm  in  his  conservation  not  often  found. 
He  had  the  basis,  the  indispensible  basis  of  all  high  char- 
acter ;  unspotted  integrity  and  honor  unimpeached.  If 
he  had  aspirations  they  were  high,  honorable  and  noble ; 


HIDDEN   TREASURES. 


nothing  low  or  meanly  come  near  his  head  or  heart.  He 
arose  early  and  was  a  successful  planter ;  so  much  so 
that  to  have  been  an  overseer  at  '  Fort  Hill '  was  a  high 
recommendation.  He  dealt  almost  exclusively  in  solid 
reasoning  when  speaking,  which  was  so  plain  that  illus- 
tration was  rarely  needed.  Certain  it  is  that  he  was  a 
great  and  good  man." 


Robert  Y,  Hayne. 


THE  renowned  debate  on  the  doctrine  of  nullification 
in  which  he  was  one  of  the  principals, — if  it  were  the 
only  act  of  his  life,  must  make  the  name  of  Robert  Y. 
Hayne  forever  illastrious.  He  was  born  in  1791,  and  ad- 
mitted to  the  bar  before  he  was  twenty-one,  having 
been  educated  in  Charleston,  South  Carolina,  his  native" 
State. 

He  volunteered  early  in  the  war  of  1812  and  rapidly 
rose  to  the  position  of  Major-General,  being  considered 
one  of  the  best  disciplinarians  in  the  South.  As  his  old 
friend,  Mr.  Ehres,  had  been  chosen  to  a  seat  in  Congress, 
he  succeeded  to  his  large  practice,  and  before  he  was 
twenty-two  he  had  the  most  lucrative  practice  of  any 
lawyer  in  his  State. 

He  was  elected  to  the  South  Carolina  legislature  as  a 
member  of  the  assembly  of  1814,  and  as  speaker  of  that 
body  four  years  after  taking  his  seat  and  soon  was 
chosen  Attorney  General  of  the  State.  In  every  position 
young  Haynes  was  placed  he  not  only  acquitted  himself 


FROM   OBSCURITY   TO    ftREAT    HONOR.  217 

with  credit  but  won  for  himself  great  esteem,  and  as 
soon  as  he  was  old  enough  to  be  elligible  for  United 
States  Senator  he  was  sent  by  his  State  to  defend  their 
interests  at  the  national  capitol. 

Here  he  became  a  most  aggressive  opponent,  culminat- 
ing in  '^The  battle  of  the  giants,"  the  great  debate  on 
the  interpretation  of  the  constitution.  Mr.  Hayne's 
speech  on  this  occasion  was  heralded  far  and  near,  and 
it  was  classed  by  his  supporters  with  the  mightiest  efforts 
of  Burke  or  Pitt.  Mr.  Webster's  reply  has  been  generally 
acknowledged  the  superior  effort  of  the  two;  but  certain 
it  is  that  whatever  may  have  been  the  tendency  of  the 
views  espoused  by  him,  Eobert  Y.  Hayne  was  an  honest 
and  sincere  defender  of  the  doctrine  of  the  State  Rights, 
and  was  held  in  high  esteem  by  his  political  opponents. 

The  obnoxious  tariff  laws  passing,  General  Hayne 
was  elected  Governor  of  his  State;  the  people  feeling 
that  they  could  place  the  helm  of  their  ship  in  no  safer 
hands  during  the  trying  ordeal  they  felt  they  were  to 
pass  through.  In  replying  to  President  Jackson's  cele- 
iDrated  ''proclamation  Hayne  issued  a  counter-manifesto 
full  of  defiance.  Happily  the  compromise  of  Mr.  Clay 
postponed  for  thirty  years  the  threatened  civil  war. 

The  evening  of  the  close  of  that  great  debate  at  a 
presidential  levee,  Mr.  Webster  challenged  Mr.  Hayne  to 
drink  a  glass  of  wine  with  him,  saying,  "General  Hayne, 
I  drink  to  your  health,  and  hope  that  you  may  live  a 
thousand  years."  Hayne's  disposition  is  shown  by  his 
reply:  "I  shall  not  li^e  a  hundred  if  you  make  another 
such  a  speech."  If  he  felt  there  was  merit  in  an  indi- 
vidual he  was  quickest  to  admit  it  even  when  it  might 
be  to  his  own  detriment,  and  when  it  is  remembered  that 
he  was  one  of  the  first  to  compliment  Webster  on  his 


218  HIDDEN    TREASURES. 

great  parliamentary  success,  his  noble  qualities  are  shown 
in  their  true  colors. 

After  serving  in  the  gubernatorial  chair  with  great 
listinction  he  retired  to  become  Mayor  of  Charleston. 
He  now  turned  his  attention  especially  to  internal  im- 
provements, and  soon  became  president  of  the  Charles- 
ton, Louisville  &  Cincinnati  Railway.  This  office  he  held 
at  his  death,  which  occurred  in  his  fiftieth  year,  Septem- 
ber 24th,  1841.  There  are  many  things  in  the  character 
of  General  Hayne  worthy  of  study. 


Daniel  Webster. 


ON  January  8th,  1782,  was  born  at  Franklin,  New 
Hampshire,  a  son  to  a  comparatively  poor  farmer. 
No  royal  blo(3d  flowed  through  the  veins  of  this  child 
whereby  to  bring  him  honor,  yet  one  day  .he  was  to  rise 
to  the  foremost  rank  among  the  rulers  of  his  country. 
At  that  early  period  the  town  of  Salisbury,  now  Frank- 
lin, was  the  extreme  northern  settlement  in  New  Hamp- 
shire, and  the  schools  were  of  necessity  in  a  primitive 
state. 

Daniel  Webster  labored  on  his  father's  farm  during 
the  summer,  and  a  few  months  of  each  winter  attended 
the  district  school  some  two  miles  from  his  home.  Con- 
sidering the  cold,  and  the  heavy  snows  which  are  char- 
acteristic of  his  native  State,  one  can  scarcely  realize  the 
amount  of  energy  he  must  have  utilized  to  enable  him 
to  enter  Exeter  Academy  at  the  early  age  of  fourteen, 


FROM  OBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.         219 

and  one  year  later,  Dartmouth  College.  He  is  repre- 
sented as  promising  nothing  of  his  future  greatness  at 
this  time,  but  it  is  stated  that  he  pursued  every  ^tudj 

with  EXTRAORDINARY   TENACITY. 

He  read  widely,  especially  in  history  and  general 
English  literature,  and  thereby  laid  a  good  foundation 
for  the  splendid  education  which  his  personal  energy  at 
last  brought  him.  As  a  matter  of  course,  such  a  line  of 
action  must  bring  out  what  qualities  might  be  in  any 
man.   The  college  societies  soon  sought  him  as  a  member. 

While  at  Exeter  he  could  hardly  muster  courage  to 
speak  before  his  class,  but  before  he  had  finished  his. 
college  course  he  had  delivered  addresses  before  the 
societies,  which  found  their  way  into  print.  His  dili 
gence  soon  placed  him  at  the  head  of  his  class,  a  position 
he  maintained  until  the  close  of  his  college  studies, 
graduating  in  1801  with  high  honors. 

Choosing  law  as  his  profession,  he  entered  the  law 
office  of  a  friend  and  neighbor,  Thomas  Thompson,  who 
afterwards  became  a  congressman  and  eventually  a 
senator.  Mr.  Webster  remained  here  for  some  time 
when  he  left  the  office  to  become  a  teacher  in  Maine  at  a 
salary  of  $350  per  year,  which  he  enlarged  somewhat  by 
copying  deeds.  He  afterwards  returned  to  the  ofiice  of 
Mr.  Thompson  where  he  remained  until  1804,  when  he 
went  to  Boston  and  entered  the  office  of  Christopher 
Gove,  who  also  distinguished  himself  afterwards  as 
governor  of  Massachusetts. 

He  had  previously  helped  his  brother  Ezekiel  to  pre- 
pare for  college,  and  Daniel  now  in  turn  was  helped  to 
continue  his  law  studies  as  Ezekiel  was  teaching.  His 
opportunity  to  enter  the  office  of  Mr.  Gove  proved  most 
fortunate,  as  he  was  thus  enabled  to  study  men,  books 


220  HIDDEN   TREASURES. 

and  daily  bear  intelligent  discussions  on  the  topics  ol 
national  interest. 

In  1805  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar,  and  established 
himself  at  Boscawen.  He  had  been  offered  the  clerkship 
of  the  Hillsboro  County  Court  at  a  salary  of  $1,500  a 
year,  which  was  then  a  large  income,  and  he  was  urged 
to  accept  it  by  his  father  and  other  friends,  but  was  dis- 
suaded from  so  doing  by  Mr.  Gove,  who  forsaw  great 
honor  in  store  for  him  at  the  bar.  He  practiced  at  Bos- 
cawen one  year,  when  he  was  admitted  to  practice  in  the 
Superior  Court  of  New  Hampshire,  and  he  established 
himself  at  Portsmouth,  at  that  time  the  capital  of  the 
State.  Here  he  rose  to  distinction  among  the  most  emi- 
nent counsellors.  During  his  nine  years  residence  in 
Portsmouth  he  gave  his  especial  attention  to  constitu- 
tional law,  becoming  one  of  the  soundest  practitioners 
in  the  State. 

He  had  inherited  from  his  father  the  principles  of 
the  Federalist  party,  and,  therefore,  advocated  them  in 
speeches  on  public  occasions,  but  did  not  for  some  years 
enter  into  politics.  Mr.  Webster  came  forward  in  a  time 
when  i^arty  spirit  ran  high,  and  the  declaration  of  war 
in  1812,  long  deprecated  by  his  part}^  created  a  demand 
for  the  best  talent  the  country  afforded.  Mr.  Webster 
now  held  a  commanding  reputation,  and  in  1812  he  was 
sent  to  Congress.  This  was  a  most  favorable  time  for 
Webster  to  enter  Congress,  as  measures  of  the  greatest 
importance  were  now  to  be  discussed. 

Henry  Clay  was  speaker  of  the  house,  and  placed  this 
new  member  on  a  most  important  committee.  June  10, 
1813,  he  delivered  his  maiden  speech  on  the  repeal  of  the 
Berlin  and  Milan  decrees.    These  decrees  were  a  scheme 


FROM  OBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.         221 

of  Napoleon's,  avowedly  directed  against  the  commer- 
cial interests  of  Great  Britain. 

They  closed  all  ports  of  France,  and  her  allied  coun- 
tries against  all  vessels  coming  from  England  or  any 
English  colony.  All  commerce  and  correspondence  was 
prohibited.  All  English  merchandise  was  seized,  and 
English  subjects  found  in  any  country  governed  by 
France  were  held  prisoners  of  war. 

Great  Britain  retaliated  by  prohibiting  neutral  ves- 
sels from  entering  the  ports  of  France  under  pain  of 
confiscation;  and  a  later  order  placed  France  and  her 
allies,  together  with  all  countries  with  whom  England 
was  at  war,  under  the  same  restriction. 

ISTapoleon  then  issued  his  decree  from  Milan  and  the 
Tuileries  declaring  that  any  vessel  that  had  ever  been 
searched  by  English  authority,  or  had  ever  paid  duty  to 
England,  should  be  treated  as  a  lawful  prize  of  war. 

Mr.  Webster's  first  speech,  as  before  stated,  was  upon 
a  resolution  on  the  repeal  of  these  decrees,  and  so  ably 
did  he  define  our  duty  as  a  country,  in  the  matter,  and 
so  clearly  did  he  show  wherein  both  England  and  France 
had  transgressed;  that,  being  a  new  member,  unknown 
outside  of  his  own  section  of  the  Union,  his  lucid  and 
eloquent  appeal  took  the  house  and  nation  by  surprise. 

His  subsequent  speeches  on  the  increase  of  the  navy 
and  the  repeal  of  the  embargo  act  won  for  him  a  first 
place  among  the  great  debaters  of  his  day.  He  culti- 
vated a  friendly  relation  with  political  opponents  as  well 
as  partisan  friends,  which  soon  gained  for  him  the  re- 
spect of  all  and  he  became  the  acknowledged  leader  of 
the  Federal  party.  He  was  re-elected  to  Congress  in  1814 
by  a  large  majority,  and  in  the  debates  upon  the  United 
States  bank  which  followed,  he  displayed  a  most  remark- 


222  HIDDEN    TREASURES. 

SilAe  mastery  of  the  financial  questions  of  his  time. 
Afterward  a  bill  which  was  introduced  by  him  passed, 
requiring  all  payments  to  the  treasury  to  be  made  in 
SiDecie  or  its  equivalent,  restored  the  depreciated  cur- 
rency of  the  country. 

His  home  and  library  was  burned  and  after  some 
hesitation  as  to  whether  to  locate  in  Boston  or  Albany, 
he  decided  on  the  former  whither  he  moved,  and  where 
he  lived  the  remainder  of  his  life.  This  change  of  loca- 
tion gave  greater  scope  for  the  extension  of  his  legal 
business,  and  his  resignation  from  Congress  increased 
still  further  his  time  and  opportunities.  During  the  next 
seven  years  he  devoted  his  exclusive  attention  to  his 
profession,  taking  a  position  as  counsellor,  above  which 
no  one  has  ever  risen  in  this  country,  and  the  best  class 
of  business  passed  into  his  hands. 

In  1816  the  legislature  of  New  Hampshire  re-organized 
the  corporation  of  Dartmouth  College,  changing  its  name 
to  Dartmouth  University,  and  selecting  new  trustees. 
The  newly-created  body  took  possession  of  the  institu- 
tion, and  the  old  board  brought  action  against  the  nev/ 
management.  The  case  involved  the  powers  of  the  leg- 
islature over  the  old  corporation  without  their  consent. 
It  was  decided  twice  in  the  affirmative  by  the  courts 
of  the  State,  when  it  was  appealed  to  Washington,  the 
highest  court. 

Mr.  Webster  opened  the  case,  delivering  a  most  elo- 
quent and  exhaustive  argument  for  the  college.  His 
argument  was  that  it  was  a  private  institution  supported 
through  charity,  over  which  the  State  had  no  control, 
and  that  the  legislature  could  not  annul  except  for  acts 
in  violation  of  its  charter,  which  had  not  been  shown. 
Chief  Justice  Marshal  decided  that  the  act  of  the  legis- 


FROM  OBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.         223 

ature  was  unconstitutional  and  reversed  the  previous 
decisions.  This  established  Mr.  Webster's  reputation  in 
the  Supreme  Court,  and  he  was  retained  in  every  consid- 
erable case  thereafter,  being  considered  one  of  the 
greatest  expounders  of  constitutional  law  in  the  Union. 

He  was  already  acknowledged  to  be  among  the 
greatest  criminal  lawyers,  and  at  the  anniversary  of  the 
landing  of  the  pilgrim  fathers  he  delivered  the  first  of  a 
series  of  orations  which,  aside  from  his  legal  and  legis- 
lative achievements  must  have  made  him  renowned. 
He  was  elected  in  1822  to  congress,  being  chosen  from 
Boston,  and  during  1823  made  his  world-famous  speech 
on  the  Greek  revolution ;  a  most  powerful  remonstrance 
against  what  has  passed  into  history  as  "  The  holy  alli- 
ance,'' and  he  also  opposed  an  extravagant  increase  of  the 
tariff.  He  also  reported  and  carried  through  the  house 
a  complete  revision  of  the  criminal  law  of  the  United 
States,  being  chairman  of  the  judiciary  committee.  In 
1827  he  was  selected  by  the  legislature  of  Massachusetts 
to  fill  a  vacancy  in  the  United  States  senate.  In  that 
body  he  won  a  foremost  jDOsition. 

Probably  the  most  eloquent  exhibition  of  oratory, 
based  on  logic  and  true  statesmanship,  ever  exhibited  in 
the  Senate  of  the  United  States  was  the  contest  between 
Mr.  Webster,  of  Massachusetts,  and  Mr.  Hayne,  the 
silver-tongued  orator  of  South  Carolina;  the  debate 
transpiring  in  1830.  The  subject  of  discussion  before 
the  senate  by  these  two  intellectual  gladiators  grew  out 
of  a  resolution  brought  forward  by  Senator  Foot,  of  Con- 
necticut, just  at  the^  close  of  the  previous  year  with  a 
view  of  some  arrangement  concerning  the  sales  of  the 
public  lands.  But  this  immediate  question  was  soon  lost 
sight  of  in  the  discussion  of  a  great  vital  principle  of 


224  HIDDEN   TREASURES. 

constitutional  law,  namely:  The  relative  powers  of  the. 
States  and  the  national  government. 

Upon  this  Mr.  Benton  and  Mr.  Hayne  addressed  the 
Senate,  condemning  the  policy  of  the  Eastern  States  as 
illiberal  toward  the  West.  Mr.  Webster  replied  in  vindica- 
tion of  New  England,  and  of  the  policy  of  the  Government. 
It  was  then  that  Mr.  Hayne  made  his  attack — sudden,  un- 
expected, and  certainly  unexampled — upon  Mr.  Webster 
personally,  upon  Massachusetts  and  other  Northern  States 
politically,  and  upon  the  constitution  itself.  In  respect 
to  the  latter,  Mr.  Hayne  taking  the  position  that  it  is  con- 
stitutional to  interrupt  the  administration  of  the  Consti- 
tution itself,  in  the  hands  of  those  who  are  chosen  and 
sworn  to  administer  it;  by  the  direct  interference  in 
form  of  law,  of  the  States,  in  virtue  of  their  sovereign 
capacity. 

All  of  these  points  were  handled  by  Mr.  Hayne  with 
that  rhetorical  brilliancy,  and  the  power  which  charac- 
terized him  as  the  oratorical  champion  of  the  South  on 
the  floor  of  the  Senate,  and  it  is  not  saying  too  much 
that  the  speech  produced  a  profound  impression.  Mr. 
Hayne's  great  effort  appeared  to  be  the  result  of  pre- 
meditation, concert,  and  arrangement. 

He  selected  his  own  time,  and  that,  too,  peculiarly  in- 
convenient to  Mr.  Webster,  for  at  that  moment  the  Su- 
IDreme  Court  was  proceeding  in  the  hearing  of  a  case  of 
great  importance  in  which  he  was  a  leading  counsel. 
For  this  reason  he  requested,  through  a  friend,  the  post- 
ponement of  the  debate.  Mr.  Hayne  objected,  however, 
and  the  request  was  refused.  The  time,  the  matter,  and 
the  manner,  indicated  that  the  attack  was  made  with 
the  design  to  crush  so  formidable  a  political  opponent  as 

Mr.  Webster  had  become.     To  this  end,  personal  history, 
14 


^  FROM  OBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.         225 

the  annals  of  New  England,  and  the  federal  party  were 
ransacked  for  materials. 

It  was  attempted  with  the  usual  partisan  unfairness 
of  political  harangues  to  make  him  responsible  not  only 
for  what  was  his  own,. but  for  the  conduct  and  opinions 
of  others.  All  the  errors  and  delinquencies,  real  or  sup- 
posed, of  Massachusetts  and  the  Eastern  States,  and  of 
the  Federal  party  during  the  war  of  1812,  and  indeed 
prior  and  subsequent  to  that  period  were  accumulated 
and  heaped  upon  him. 

Thus  it  was  that  Mr.  Hayne  heralded  his  speech  with  a 
bold  declaration  of  war,  with  taunts  and  threats,  vaunt- 
ing anticipated  triumph — saying  *that  he  would  carry 
the  war  into  Africa  until  he  had  obtained  indemnity  for 
the  past  and  security  for  the  future.'  It  was  supposed 
that  as  a  distinguished  representative  man,  Mr.  Webster 
would  be  driven  to  defend  what  was  indefensible,  to* 
uphold  what  could  not  be  sustained  and,  as  a  Federalist,^ 
to  oppose  the  popular  resolutions  of  '98. 

The  severe  nature  of  Mr.  Hayne's  charges,  the  ability^ 
with  which  he  brought  them  to  bear  upon  his  opponents, 
his  great  reputation  as  a  brilliant  and  powerful  de- 
claimer,  filled  the  minds  of  his  friends  with  anticipations 
of  complete  triumph.  For  two  days  Mr.  Hayne  had  con- 
trol of  the  floor.  The  vehemence  of  his  language  and 
the  earnestness  of  his  manner,  we  might  j)roperly  say 
the  power  of  his  oratory,  added  force  to  the  excitement 
of  the  occasion.  So  fluent  and  melodious  was  his  elocu- 
tion that  his  cause  naturally  begat  sympathy.  No  one 
had  time  to  deliberate  on  his  rapid  words  or  canvass  his 
sweeping  and  accumulated  statements.  The  dashing 
nature  of  the  onset,  the  assurance,  almost  insolence  of 


226  HIDDEN    TREASURES. 

his  tone ;  the  serious  character  of  the  accusations,  con- 
founded almost  every  hearer  . 

The  immediate  impression  of  the  speech  was  most 
surely  disheartening  to  the  cause  Mr.  Webster  upheld. 
Congratulations  from  almost  every  quarter  were  showered 
upon  Mr.  Hayne.  Mr.  Benton  said  in  full  senate  that  as 
much  as  Mr.  Hayne  had  done  before  to  establish  his  repu- 
tation as  an  orator,  a  statesman,  a  patriot  and  a  gallant 
son  of  the  South ;  the  efforts  of  that  day  would  eclipse 
and  surpass  the  whole.  Indeed  the  speech  was  extolled 
as  the  greatest  effort  of  the  time  or  of  other  times — 
neither  Chatham  or  Burke,  nor  Fox  had  surpassed  it  in 
their  palmiest  days. 

Mr.  Y/ebster's  own  feelings  with  reference  to  the 
speech  were  freely  exxDressed  to  his  friend,  Mr.  Everett, 
the  evening  succeeding  Mr.  Hayne's  closing  speech.  He 
regarded  the  speech  as  an  entirely  unprovoked  attack  on 
the  North,  and  what  was  of  far  more  importance,  as  an 
exposition  of  x)olitics  in  which  Mr.  Webster's  opinion 
went  far  to  change  the  form  of  government  from  that 
which  was  established  by  the  constitution  into  that 
which  existed  under  the  confederation — if  the  latter 
could  be  called  a  government  at  all.  He  stated  it  to  be 
his  intention  therefore  to  put  that  theory  to  rest  forever, 
as  far  as  it  could  be  done  by  an  argument  in  the  senate 
chamber.  How  grandly  he  did  this  is  thus  vividly  por- 
trayed by  Mr.  March,  an  eye-v/itness,  and  whose  account 
has  been  adopted  by  most  historians. 

It  was  on  Tuesday,  January  26th,  1S30 — a  day  to  be 
hereafter  memorable  in  senatorial  annals — that  the  senate 
resumed  the  consideration  of  Foot's  resolution.  There 
was  never  before  in  the  citv  an  occasion  of  so  much  ex- 
citement.     To  witness  this  great  intellectual  contest 


FROM  OBSCURITY  T®  GREAT  HONOR.  227 

multitudes  of  strangers  had,  for  two  or  more  days  pre- 
vious, been  rushing  into  the  city,  and  the  hotels  over- 
flowed. As  early  as  nine  o'clock  in  the  morning  crowds 
poured  into  the  capitol  in  hot  haste ;  at  twelve  o'clock, 
the  hour  of  meeting,  the  senate  chamber,  even  its 
galleries,  floor,  and  lobbies  was  filled  to  its  utmost  capacity. 
The  very  stairways  were  dark  with  men  who  hung  on  to 
one  another  like  bees  in  a  swarm. 

The  House  of  Kepresentatives  was  early  deserted. 
An  adjournment  would  hardly  have  made  it  emptier. 
The  speaker,  it  is  true,  retained  his  chair,  but  no  busi- 
ness of  moment  was  or  could  be  attended  to.  Members 
all  rushed  in  to  hear  Mr.  Webster,  and  no  call  of  the 
House  or  other  parliamentary  proceedings  could  call 
them  back.  The  floor  of  the  Senate  was  so  densely 
crowded  that  persons  once  in  could  not  get  out. 

Seldom,  if  ever,  has  a  speaker  in  this  or  any  other 
country  had  more  powerful  incentives  to  exertion ;  a 
subject,  the  determination  of  which  involved  the  most 
important  interests  and  even  duration  of  the  Republic — ■ 
competitors  unequaled  in  reputation,  ability,  or  position  ; 
a  name  to  make  still  more  renowned  or  lose  forever ; 
and  an  audience  comprising,  not  only  American  citizens 
most  eminent  in  intellectual  greatness,  but  representa- 
tives of  other  nations  where  the  art  of  oratory  had 
ilourished  for  ages. 

Mr.  Webster  perceived  and  felt  equal  to  the  destinies 
-of  the  moment.  The  very  greatness  of  the  hazard 
exhilarated  him.  His  spiritsarose  with  the  occasion.  He 
awaited  the  time  of  onset  with  a  stern  and  impatient 
joy.  He  felt  like  the  war-horse  of  the  Scriptures,  who 
^paweth  in  the  valley  and  rejoiceth  in  his  strength  :  who 
goeth  on  to  meet  the  armed  men  who  say eth  among  the 


228  HIDDEN   TREASURES. 

trumpets,  ha !  ha !  and  who  smelleth  the  battle  afar  off, 
the  thunder  of  the  Captains  and  the  shouting/ 

A  confidence  in  his  resources,  springing  from  no  vain 
estimate  of  his  power  but  the  legitimate  off-spring  of 
previous  severe  mental  discipline,  sustained  and  ex- 
cited him.  He  had  gauged  his  opponents,  his  subject 
and  HIMSELF. 

He  was,  too,  at  this  iDcriod  in  the  very  prime  of  man- 
hood." He  had  reached  middle-age — an  era  in  the  life  of 
man  when  the  faculties,  plwsical  or  intellectual,  may  be 
supposed  to  attain  their  fullest  organization  and  most 
perfect  development.  Whatever  there  was  in  him  of 
intellectual  energy  and  vitality  the  occasion,  his  full  life 
and  high  ambition  might  well  bring  forth.  He  never 
arose  on  an  ordinary  occasion  to  address  an  ordinary 
audience  more  self-possessed.  There  was  no  tremulous- 
ness  in  his  voice  or  manner;  nothing  hurried,  nothing 
simulated.  The  calmness  of  superior  strength  was  visible 
everywhere;  in  countenance,  voice  and  bearing.  A  deep- 
seated  conviction  of  the  extraordinary  character  of  the 
emergency  and  of  his  ability  to  control  it  seemed  to 
possess  him  wholly.  If  an  observer  more  than  ordinarily 
keen-sighted  detected  at  times  something  like  exulta- 
tion in  his  eye,  he  presumed  it  sprang  from  the  excite- 
ment of  the  moment  and  the  anticipation  of  victoiy. 
The  anxiety  to  hear  the  speech  was  so  intense,  irrepress- 
ible and  universal  that  no  sooner  had  the  vice-president 
assumed  the  chair  that  a  motion  was  made  and  unani- 
mously carried  to  iDostpone  the  ordinary  preliminaries  of 
senatorial  action  and  take  up  immediately  the  considera- 
tion of  the  resolution. 

Mr.  Webster  arose  and  addressed  the  Senate.    His 
exordium  is  known  by  heart  everywhere.     ''Mr.  Presi- 


FROM  OBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.         229 

dent  when  the  mariner  has  been  tossed  about  for  many 
days  in  thick  weather  and  on  an  unknown  sea  he  natur- 
ally avails  himself  of  the  first  pause  in  the  storm,  the 
earliest  glance  of  the  sun  to  take  his  latitude  and 
ascertain  how  far  the  elements  have  driven  him  from 
his  true  course.  Let  us  imitate  this  prudence  and  before 
we  float  further  on  the  waves  of  this  debate  refer  to  the 
point  from  which  we  departed  that  we  may  at  least  be 
able  to  form  some  conjecture  where  we  now  are.  I  ask 
for  the  reading  of  the  resolutions." 

Calm,  resolute,  impressive  was  this  opening  speech. 
There  wanted  no  more  to  enchain  the  attention.  There 
was  a  spontaneous  though  silent  expression  of  eager  atten- 
tion as  the  orator  concluded  these  opening  remarks.  And 
while  the  clerk  read  the  resolution  many  attempted  the 
impossibility  of  getting  nearer  the  speaker.  Every  head 
was  inclined  closer  toward  him,  every  ear  turned  in  the 
direction  of  his  voice — and  that  deep,  sudden,  mysterious 
silence  followed  which  always  attends  fullness  of  emotion. 
From  the  sea  of  upturned  faces  before  him  the  orator 
iDcheld  his  thought,  reflected  as  from  a  mirror.  The 
varying  countenance,  the  suffused  eye,  the  earnest  smile 
and  ever  attentive  look  assured  him  of  the  intense  in- 
terest excited.  If  among  his  hearers  there  were  some 
who  affected  indifference  at  first  to  his  glowing  thoughts 
and  fervant  periods,  the  difficult  mask  was  soon  laid 
aside  and  profound,  undisguised,  devout  attention 
followed. 

In  truth,  all  sooner  or  later, voluntarily,  or  in  spite  of 
themselves  were  wholly  carried  away  by  the  spell  of 
such  unexampled  eloquence.  Those  who  had  doubted 
Mr.  Webster's  power  to  cope  with  and  overcome  his 
opponent  were  fully  satisfied  of  their  error  before  he  had 


230  HIDDEN   TREASURES. 

proceeded  far  in  this  debate.  Their  fears  soon  took  an- 
other direction.  When  they  heard  his  sentences  of 
powerful  thought  towering  in  accumulated  grandeur  one 
above  the  other  as  if  the  orator  strove  Titan-like  to  reach 
the  very  heavens  themselves,  they  were  giddy  with  an 
apprehension  that  he  would  break  down  in  his  flight. 
They  dared  not  believe  that  genius,  learning — any  in- 
tellectual endowment  however  uncommon,  that  was 
simply  mortal — could  sustain  itself  long  in  a  career 
seemingly  so  perilous.  They  feared  an  Icarian  fall.  Xo 
one  surely  who  was  present,  could  ever  forget  the  awful 
burst  of  eloquence  with  which  the  orator  apostro- 
phized the  old  Bay  State  which  Mr.  Hayne  had  so  de- 
rided, or  the  tones  of  deep  pathos  in  which  her  defense 
was  pronounced : — 

"Mr.  President:  I  shall  enter  on  no  encomium  upon 

Massachusetts.    There  she  is — behold  her  and  judge  for 

yourselves.     There  is  her  history,  the  world  knows  it  by 

heart.    The  past  at  least  is  secure.    There  is  Boston,  and 

Concord,  and  Lexington,  and  Bunker  Hill,  and  there  they 

will  remain  forever.     The  bones  of  her  sons  falling  in 

the  great  struggle  for  independence  now  lie  mingled 

with    the  soil    of    every  State    from  New  England  to 

Georgia,  and  there  they  will  remain  forever.     And  sir, 

where  American  liberty  raised  its  first  voice,  and  where 

its  youth  was  nurtured  and  sustained,  there  it  still  lives 

in  the  strength  of  its  manhood  and  full  of  its  original 

spirit.     If  discord  and  disunion  shall  wound  it,  if  party 

strife  and  blind  ambition  shall  haAvk  at  and  tear  it,  if 

folly  and  madness,  if  uneasiness   under  salutary  and 

necessary  restraint,  shall  succeed  to   separate   it  from 

that  Union  by  which  alone  its  existence  is  made  sure  it 

will  stand  in  the  end  by  the  side  of  that  cradle  in  which 


FROM  OBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.         231 

its  infancy  was  rocked,  it  will  stretch  forth  its  arm  with 
whatever  vigor  it  may  still  retain  over  the  friends  who 
gather  around  it  and  it  will  fall  at  last,  if  fall  it  must, 
amidst  the  proudest  monuments  of  its  own  glory  and  on 
the  very  spot  of  its  origin." 

No  New  England  heart  but  throbbed  with  vehement 
emotion  as  Mr.  Webster  dwelt  upon  New  England  suffer- 
ings, New  England  struggles,  and  New  England  triumphs 
during  the  war  of  the  Eevolution.  There  was  scarcely 
a  dry  eye  in  the  Senate;  all  hearts  were  overcome ;  grave 
judges  and  men  grown  old  in  dignified  life  turned  aside 
their  heads  to  conceal  the  evidence  of  their  emotion. 

We  presume  that  none  but  those  present  can  under- 
stand the  excitement  of  the  scene.  No  one  who  was 
present  can,  it  seems,  give  an  adequate  description  of  it. 
No  word-painting  can  convey  the  deep,  intense  enthusi- 
asm, the  reverential  attention  of  that  vast  assembly,  nor 
limner  transfer  to  canvas  their  earnest,  eager,  awe-struck 
countenances.  Though  language  were  as  subtle  and  flexi- 
ble as  thought  it  v^ould  still  be  impossible  to  represent 
the  full  idea  of  the  occasion.  Much  of  the  instantaneous 
effect  of  the  speech  arose  of  course  from  the  orator's  de- 
livery— the  tones  of  his  voice,  his  countenance  and  man- 
ner. These  die  mostly  with  the  occasion,  they  can  only 
be  described  in  general  terms. 

"Of  the  effectiveness  of  Mr.  Webster's  manner  in 
many  parts,"  says  Mr.  Everett,  himself  almost  without  a 
peer  as  an  orator,  "it  would  be  in  vain  to  attempt  to  give 
any  one  not  present  the  faintest  idea.  It  has  been  my 
fortune  to  hear  some  of  the  ablest  speeches  of  the  great- 
est living  orators  on  both  sides  of  the  water,  but  I  must 
confess  I  never  heard  anything  which  so  completely 


232  HIDDEN    TREASURES. 

realized  my  conception  of  what  Demosthenes  was  when 
he  delivered  the  oration  for  the  Crown.'' 

Could  there  be  higher  praise  than  this  ?  Keen  nor 
Kemble  nor  any  other  masterly  delineator  of  the  human 
passions  overproduced  a  more  powerful  impression  upon 
an  audience  or  swayed  so  completely  their  hearts.  No 
one  ever  looked  the  orator  as  he  did;  in  form  and  feature 
how  like  a  god !  His  countenance  spake  no  less  audibly 
than  his  words.  His  manner  gave  new  force  to  his 
language.  As  he  stood  swaying  his  right  arm  like  a 
huge  tilt-hammer,  up  and  down,  his  swarthy  countenance 
lighted  up  with  excitement,  he  appeared  amid  the  smoke, 
the  fire,  the  thunder  of  his  eloquence  like  Vulcan  in  his 
armory  forging  thoughts  for  the  gods  ! 

Time  had  not  thinned  nor  bleached  his  hair  ;  it  was 
as  dark  as  the  raven's  plumage,  surmounting  his  massive 
brow  in  ample  folds.  His  eye  always  dark  and  deep-set 
enkindled  by  some  glowing  thought  shown  from  beneath 
his  somber  overhanging  brow  like  lights  in  the  blackness 
of  night  from  a  sepulcher.  No  one  understood  better 
than  Mr.  Webster  the  philosophy  of  dress ;  what  a  pow- 
erful auxiliary  it  is  to  speech  and  manner  when  harmon- 
izing with  them.  On  this  occasion  he  appeared  in  a  blue 
coat,  a  buff  vest,  black  pants  and  white  cravat ;  a  cos- 
tume strikingly  in  keeping  Vvdth  his  face  and  expression. 
The  human  face  never  wore  an  expression  of  more  with- 
ering, relentless  scorn  than  when  the  orator  replied  to 
Hayne's  allusion  to  the  "Murdered  Coalition" — a  piece 
of  stale  political  trumpery  well  understood  at  that  day. 
"It  is,"  said  Mr.  Webster,  "the  very  cast  off  slough  of 
a  polluted  ana  shameless  press.  Incapable  of  further 
mischief  it  lies  in  the  sewer,  lifeless  and  despised.  It  is 
not  now,  sir,  in  the  power  of  the  honorable  member  to 


FROM  OBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.         233 

give  it  dignity  or  decency  by  attempting  to  elevate  it 
and  introduce  it  into  the  Senate.  He  cannot  change  it 
from  what  it  is — an  object  of  general  disgust  and  scorn. 
On  the  contrary,  the  contact,  if  he  choose  to  touch  it, 
is  more  likely  to  drag  him  down,  down,  down  to  the 
place  where  it  lies  itself."  He  looked  as  he  spoke  these 
words  as  if  the  thing  he  alluded  to  was  too  mean  for 
scorn  itself,  and  the  sharp  stinging  enunciation  made  the 
words  still  more  scathing.  The  audience  seemed  relieved, 
so  crushing  was  the  expression  of  his  face  which  they 
held  onto  as  'twere  spell-bound — when  he  turned  to  other 
topics.  But  the  good-natured  yet  provoking  irony  with 
which  he  described  the  imaginarj^,  though  life-like  scene 
of  direct  collision  between  the  marshaled  army  of  South 
Carolina  under  General  Hayne  on  the  one  side,  and  the 
of&cers  of  the  United  States  on  the  other,  nettled  his 
opponent  even  more  than  his  severe  satire,  it  seemed  so 
ridiculously  true. 

With  his  true  Southern  blood  Hayne  inquired  with 
some  degree  of  emotion  if  the  gentleman  from  Massa- 
-chusetts  intended  any  personal  imputation  by  such 
remarks?  To  which  Mr.  Webster  replied  with  perfect 
good  humor,  "Assuredly  not,  just  the  reverse  !"  The 
variety  of  incident  during  the  speech,  and  the  rapid 
fluctuation  of  passions,  kept  the  audience  in  continual 
expectation  and  ceaseless  agitation.  The  speech  was  a 
xiomplete  drama  of  serious  comic  and  pathetic  scenes, 
and  though  a  large  portion  of  it  was  argumentative — an 
exposition  of  constitutional  law — yet  grave  as  such  por- 
tion necessarily  must  be,  severely  logical  and  abounding 
in  no  fancy  or  episode,  it  engrossed  throughout  undivided 
attention.  The  swell  of  his  voice  and  its  solemn  roll 
struck  upon  the  ears  of  the  enraptured  hearers  in  deep 


234  HIDDEN    TREASURES. 

and  thrilling  cadence  as  waves  upon  the  shore  of  the  far- 
resounding  sea. 

The  Miltonic  grandeur  of  his  words  was  the  fit  ex- 
pression of  his  great  thoughts  and  raised  his  hearers  up 
to  his  theme,  and  his  voice  exerted  to  its  utmost  power 
penetrated  every  recess  or  corner  of  the  Senate — pene- 
trated even  the  ante-rooms  and  stairways,  as  in  closing 
he  pronounced  in  deepest  tones  of  pathos  these  words  of 
solemn  significance :  "When  my  eyes  shall  be  turned  to 
behold  for  the  last  time  the  sun  in  heaven,  may  I  not  see 
him  shining  on  the  broken  and  dishonored  fragments  of 
a  once  glorious  Union ;  on  States  dissevered,  discordant, 
belligerent,  on  a  land  rent  with  civil  feuds,  or  drenched, 
it  may  be,  in  fraternal  blood. 

"Let  their  last  feeble  and  lingering  glance  rather  be- 
hold the  gorgeous  ensign  of  the  Republic  now  known 
and  honored  throughout  the  earth;  still  full, high, ad- 
vanced, its  arms  and  trophies  streaming  in  their  original 
lustre,  not  a  stripe  erased  nor  polluted,  not  a  single  star 
obscured,  bearing  for  its  motto  no  such  miserable  inter- 
rogatory as  ^What  is  all  this  worth?'  nor  those  other 
words  of  folly  and  delusion  :  'Liberty  first  and  Union 
afterwards/  but  everj^where  spread  all  over  it  characters 
of  living  light  blazing  on  all  of  its  ample  folds  as  they 
float  over  the  sea  and  over  the  land,  and  in  every  wind 
under  the  whole  heavens  that  other  sentiment  dear  to 
every  American  heart :      'Liberty  and  union  now  and 

FOREVER,  ONE  AND  INSEPARABLE  !" 

The  speech  was  over  but  the  tones  of  the  orator  still 
lingered  on  the  ear,  and  the  audience,  unconscious  of  the 
close,  retained  their  i)ositions.  Everywhere  around 
seemed  forgetfulness  of  all  but  the  orator's  presence  and 
words.    There  never  was  a  deeper  silence;  the  feeling 


FROM  OBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.         235 

was  too  overpowering  to  allow  expression  by  voice  or 
hand.  But  the  descending  hammer  of  the  chair  awoke 
them  with  a  start,  and  with  one  universal,  long  drawn, 
deep  breath,  with  which  the  over-charged  heart  seeks 
relief,  the  crowded  assembly  broke  up  and  departed. 

In  the  evening  President  Jackson  held  a  levee  at  the 
White  House.  It  was  known  in  advance  that  Mr.  Web- 
ster would  attend  it,  and  hardly  had  the  hospitable  doors 
of  the  mansion  been  thrown  open,  when  the  crowd  that 
had  filled  the  Senate-Chamber  in  the  morning  rushed  in 
and  occupied  the  room,  leaving  a  vast  and  increasing 
crowd  at  the  entrance.  On  all  previous  occasions  the 
general  himself  had  been  the  observed  of  all  observers. 
His  receptions  were  p.lways  gladl}^  attended  by  large 
numbers,  and  to  these  he  himself  was  always  the  chief 
object  of  attraction  on  account  of  his  ^  great  military 
and  personal  reputation,  official  position,  gallant  bearing, 
and  courteous  manners.  But  on  this  occasion  the  room 
in  which  he  received  his  comi^any  was  deserted  as  soon 
as  courtesy  to  the  president  permitted. 

Mr.  Webster  was  in  the  East  room  and  thither  the 
whole  mass  hurried.  He  stood  almost  in  the  center  of 
the  room  ^Dressed  upon  by  surging  crowds  eager  to  pay 
him  deference.  Hayne,  too,  was  there,  and  with  others 
went  up  and  complimented  Mr.  Webster  on  his  brilliant 
effort.  In  a  subsequent  meeting  between  the  two  rival  de- 
baters Webster  challenged  Hayne  to  drink  a  glass  of 
wine  with  him,  saying  as  he  did  so,  ''General  Hp.yne  I 
drink  to  your  health,  and  I  hope  that  you  may  live  a 
thousand  years."  "I  shall  not  live  more  than  one 
hundred  if  you  make  another  such  a  speech,"  Hayne 
replied. 

To  this  day  Webster's  speech    is  regarded  as  the 


236  HIDDEN    TREASURES. 

master-piece  of  modern  eloquence — misurpassed  by  even 
the  mightiest  efforts  of  either  Pitt,  Fox  or  Burke— a 
matchless  intellectual  achievement  and  complete  foren- 
sic triumph.  It  v^as  to  this  great,  triumphant  effort  that 
Mr.  Webster's  subsequent  fame  as  a  statesman  was  due. 
Upon  the  election  of  General  Harrison  to  the  presi- 
dency Mr.  Webster  was  offered  his  choice  of  the  places 
in  the  cabinet,  a  recognition  of  ability  probably  never 
accorded  to  any  other  man  before  or  since.  He  finally 
accepted  the  office  of  Secretary  of  State.  Our  relation 
with  England  demanded  prompt  attention.  The  differ- 
ences existing  between  the  two  nations  relative  to  the 
Northern  boundary  could  not  be  disregarded,  and  Mr. 
Webster  and  Lord  Ashburton  brought  about  a  treaty 
which  was  equally  honorable  and  advantageous  to  the 
countries.  He  was  also  able  later  to  contribute  much 
toward  the  settlement  of  the  Oregon  boundary  question 
through  private  channels  of  influence,  though  holding 
no  official  position  at  the  time. 

In  1S47  he  started  on  a  tour  of  the  Southern  States, 
being  well  received  throughout;  especially  in  Charleston, 
Columbia,  Augusta  and  Savannah  was  as  well  received, 
but  his  health  failing  him  in  the  latter  city,  he  was 
obliged  to  abandon  his  project  of  making  a  tour  of  the 
whole  South.  He  became  Secretary  of  State  under  Mr. 
Fillmore.  This  position  he  held  at  his  death  which  oc- 
cured  at  Marshfield,  on  the  24th  day  of  October,  1S52. 
Funeral  orations  were  delivered  throughout  the  country 
in  great  numbers. 

He  was  a  man  of  commanding  figure,  large  but  well 
proportioned.  His  head  was  of  unusual  size,  his  eyes 
deep-seated  and  lustrious,  and  had  a  voice  powerful  yet 
pleasing;  his  action,  while  not  remarkably  graceful,  was 


FROM  OBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.         237 

eas}^  and  impressive.  His  social  tastes  were  very  strong 
and  he  possessed  marked  conversational  power.  He 
lived  in  an  age  of  great  legislators  and  it  is  needless  to 
add  that  he  was  excelled  in  statesmanship  by  none. 

Professor  Ticknor,  speaking  in  one  of  his  letters  of 
the  intense  excitement  with  which  he  listened  to  Web- 
ster's Plymouth  address,  says  :  ''Three  or  four  times  I 
thought  my  temples  would  burst  with  the  gush  of  blood, 
for  after  all  you  must  know  I  am  aware  it  is  no  con- 
nected and  compact  whole,  but  a  collection  of  broken 
fragments,  of  burning  eloquence  to  which  his  manner 
gave  ten  fold  force.  When  I  came  out  I  was  almost 
afraid  to  come  near  him.  It  seemed  to  me  that  he  was 
like  the  mount  that  might  not  be  touched,  and  that 
burned  with  fire." 


Andrew  Jackson. 


OF  all  the  Presidents  of  the  United  States  Andrew 
Jackson  was,  perhaps,  the  most  peculiar.  He  was 
of  Scotch-Irish  descent,  his  parents  coming  to  this  coun- 
try in  1765  from  Ireland  and  settling  in  the  northern 
part  of  South  Carolina  on  the  Waxhaw  Creek.  They 
had  been  very  poor  in  the  old  country,  his  father  tilling 
a  small  farm  while  the  mother  was  a  weaver  of  linen. 
His  father  never  owned  land  in  America,  and  died  soon 
after  he  arrived  in  this  country,  little  Andrew,  being 
born  about  the  time  of  his  death.    One  would  hardly  be 


238  HIDDEN   TREASURES. 

justified  in  supposing  young  Jackson  would  one  day  be 
ruler  of  a  great  nation,  rising  as  lie  did  from  such  a 
beginning,  yet  such  are  the  possibilities  in  our  glorious 

republic. 

His  mother  wished  to  make  a  preacher  of  him,  but  his 
boyhood  is  represented  as  mischievous ;  to  say  the  least, 
his  belligerent  nature  breaking  out  in  childhood,  and  his 
mother's  fond  hope  was  signally  defeated.  He  was  pas- 
sionately fond  of  athletic  sports,  and  was  excelled  by 
none  of  his  years.  The  determination  he  evinced  in 
every  undertaking  guided  by  his  maxim  of  ''Ask  nothing 
but  what  is  right — submit  to  nothing  wrong,"  seemed  to 
be  the  key-note  of  his  success,  for  he  was  not  addicted 
to  books,  and  his  education  was  limited. 

Being  an  eye-witness  of  the  horrible  massacre  perpe- 
trated by  the  bloody  Tarlton  at  the  Waxsaw  settlement 
his  patriotic  zeal  was  terribly  awakened,  and  at  the  ten- 
der age  of  thirteen  we  find  him  among  the  American 
forces,  and  his  military  career  begins  at  Hanging  Rock, 
where  he  witnesses  the  defeat  of  Sumter,  and  he  is  soon 
a  prisoner  of  the  enemy.  The  English  officer  ordered 
him  to  black  his  boots ;  at  this  all  the  lion  in  young  Jack- 
son is  aroused,  and  he  indignantly  refuses,  whereupon 
the  officer  strikes  him  twice  with  his  sword,  inflicting 
two  ugly  wounds,  one  on  his  arm,  the  other  on  his  head. 
He  had  the  small-pox  while  a  prisoner,  but  his  mother 
effected  his  exchange,  and  after  a  long  illness  he  recov- 
ered, but  his  brother  died  of  the  same  disease. 

Soon  after  his  mother  was  taken  from  him — iiis  other 
brother  was  killed  at  Stono  ;  thus  left  alone  in  the  world 
he  began  a  reckless  course,  which  must  have  been  his 
ruin  but  for  a  sudden  change  for  the  better,  when  he 


FROM  OBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.         239 

began  the  study  of  law  at  Salisbury,  !N^ortli  Carolina,  and 
before  he  was  twenty  was  licensed  to  practice. 

Being  appointed  solicitor  for  the  western  district  of 
North  Carolina — now  Tennessee — he  removed  to  ISTash- 
ville,  1788.  His  practice  soon  became  large  w^hich,  in 
those  days,  meant  a  great  deal  of  travel  on  horseback. 
He  made  twenty-two  trips  between  Nashville  and  Jones- 
borough  during  his  first  seven  years,  and  dangerous 
vbrips  they  were,  too,  for  the  Indians  were  numerous  and 
hostile.  When  he  came  to  Nashville  he  entered,  as  a 
boarder,  the  family  of  Mrs.  Donelson,  a  widow. 

A  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Robards  were  boarders  at  the  same 
home.  Mr.  Eobards  becoming  foolishly  jealous  of  young 
Jackson  applied  to  the  legislature  of  Virginia  for  an  act 
preliminary  to  a  divorce.  Jackson  and  Mrs.  Robards, 
thinking  the  act  of  the  legislature  was  a  divorce  of  itself, 
were  married  before  the  action  of  the  court.  Judge 
Overton,  a  friend,  was  himself  surprised  to  learn  that  the 
act  of  the  legislature  was  not  a  divorce,  and  through  his 
advice  they  were  again  married  in  the  early  part  of  1794. 
The  fact  that  Captain  Robards*  own  family  sustained 
Mrs.  Robards  in  the  controversy  with  her  husband  must 
strongly  point  to  the  groundlessness  of  the  charges; 
while  it  is  further  conceded  that  Andrew  Jackson  was 
not  the  first  victim  of  the  suspicious  nature  of  Captain 
Robards.  However,  this  can  never  be  regarded  other- 
wise than  a  most  unfortunate  period  in  the  life  of  An- 
drew Jackson,  it  being  the  immediate  cause  of  more 
than  one  of  the  many  obstacles  with  which  he  was  obliged 
to  contend  in  after  years. 

He  was  appointed  district  attorney  of  Tennessee 
when  that  country  became  a  federal  territory,  and  in 
1796  when  Tennessee  became  a  State,  he  was  a  man  of 


240  HIDDEN    TREASURES. 

no  small  wealth.  Od  January  11th,  1796,  a  convention 
met  at  Knoxville  to  draft  a  constitution  for  the  new 
State,  and  Jackson  was  chosen  one  of  five  delegates  from 
Davidson  county  to  meet  the  other  members  from  over 
the  State.  He  was  ai)pointed  on  the  committee  to  draft 
that  important  document.  Having  been  elected  to  repre- 
sent his  State  in  the  popular  branch  of  Congress  he  ac- 
cordingly took  his  seat  in  that  legislative  body  in  Decem- 
ber, 1796.  As  Jackson  entered  the  house  on  the  eve  of 
the  retirement  from  public  life  of  Washington,  he  voted 
on  the  measure  approving  Washington's  administration ; 
and,  as  he  could  not  conscientiously  vote  otherwise,  not 
approving  some  of  Washington's  measures,  he  is  recorded 
among  the  twelve  who  voted  in  the  negative. 

He  at  this  time  belonged  to  the  so-called  Republican 
party,  now  Democratic,  which  was  then  forming  under 
Jefferson,  the  incoming  vice-president,  under  the  Federal 
Adams.  His  record  in  Congress  is  made  exemplary  by 
his  action  on  three  important  bills,  namely:  Against 
buying  peace  of  the  Algerians,  against  a  needlessly  large 
appropriation  for  repairing  the  house  of  the  president, 
and  against  the  removal  of  the  restriction  confining  the 
expenditure  of  public  money  to  the  specific  objects  for 
which  said  money  was  appropriated. 

As  would  be  natural,  such  a  course  was  highly  ap- 
proved by  his  constituents,  and  he  was  made  a  senator 
in  1797,  but  his  senatorial  career  was  not  so  fruitful,  as 
it  is  believed  that  he  never  made  a  speech  nor  ever  voted 
once  and  resigned  his  seat  in  less  than  a  year.  He  was 
elected  a  justice  of  the  supreme  court  of  Tennessee,  but 
he  did  nothing  remarkable  here  either  as  none  of  his 
decisions  remain.  Nothing  of  note  occurred  for  some 
time  except  his  becoming  involved  in  a  quarrel  with 
Governor  Sevier,  which  came  to  a  crisis  in  1801,  when 


FROM  OBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.         241 

Jackson  was  made  Major-General  of  militia  over  Sevier. 
Jackson  suspected  Sevier  of  being  involved  in  certain 
land  frauds,  and  a  duel  was  averted  only  by  the  influence 
of  friends. 

About  this  time  Jackson  became  financially  embar- 
rassed. Thinking  himself  secure,  he  sold  a  large  amount 
of  land  to  a  gentleman  in  Philadelphia,  and,  taking  his 
notes,  bought  goods  for  the  Tennessee  market,  depending 
on  these  notes  for  payment.  The  failure  of  these  threw 
him  into  great  difficulties ;  but  his  firm  will  came  to  his 
aid  once  more  and  saved  him.  He  immediately  resigned 
">  position  of  judge,  and  sold  land  enough  to  clear  him- 
s\  .rom  debt.  He  is  said  to  have  now  removed  to  what 
subsequently  became  known  as  the  "Hermitage,''  taking 
all  his  slaves,  and  dwelling  in  a  log  house. 

He  extended  his  business,  being  now  at  the  head  of 
the  firm  of  Jackson,  Coffee  and  Hutchings.  This  was  a 
trading  firm,  raising  wheat,  corn,  cotton,  mules,  cows 
and  horses,  it  being  a  concern  whose  business  extended 
to  New  Orleans,  but  it  lost  money,  and  finally  came  to 
an  end,  although  through  no  fault  of  Jackson,  as  he 
generally  carried  to  success  whatever  he  personally 
managed,  and  this  embarrassment  grew  out  of  reckless 
proceedings  during  his  absence.  We  now  come  upon 
another  dark  page  of  Jackson's  life. 

During  the  year  1806  a  quarrel  was  started,  which  led 
to  the  death  of  Charles  Dickinson.  This  is  one  of  his 
quarrels  resulting  indirectly  from  the  manner  in  which 
he  become  married  to  Mrs.  Robards.  This  Dickinson 
had  spoken  offensively  of  Mrs.  Jackson,  he  once  retracted 
his  words  and  renewed  them.  In  the  meantime  Jackson 
became  involved  in  a  quarrel  with  a  man  by  the  name  of 
Swann  over  the  terms  of  a  horse  race,  and  Jackson  used 


242  HIDDEN   TREASURES. 

some  strong  language  relative  to  Dickinson,  whose  name 
had  been  meaningly  introduced.  Jackson's  words  were 
carried  to  Dickinson,  as  it  appears  he  had  intended.  Af- 
terward the  quarrel  with  Swann  resulted  in  a  bar-room 
fight,  it  is  said,  begun  by  Jackson. 

About  this  time  Dickinson  wrote  a  very  severe  attack 
on  Jackson  and  published  it.  Jackson  challenged  him 
and  the  parties  met  a  long  day's  journey  from  Nashville, 
on  the  banks  of  the  Red  River,  in  Logan  county,  Ken- 
tucky. Dickinson  was  a  very  popular  man  in  Nashville, 
and  he  was  attended  by  a  number  of  associates.  Dickin- 
son'ssecond  was  a  Dr.  Catlet;  Jackson's,  General  Overton. 

Dickinson  fired  first  and  his  ball  took  effect,  breaking 
a  rib  and  raking  the  breastbone,  but  Jackson  never 
stirred  nor  gave  evidence  of  being  hit.  His  object  was  to 
hide  from  his  adversary  the  pleasure  of  knowing  that  he 
had  even  grazed  his  mark,  for  Dickinson  considered  him- 
self a  great  shot  and  was  certain  of  killing  him  at  the 
first  fire.  Seeing  he  had  missed  he  exclaimed.  My  God ! 
Have  I  missed  him  ?  Jackson  then  fired  and  Dickinson 
fell  mortally  wounded,  dying  that  night  without  know- 
ing his  aim  had  taken  any  effect.  This  duel  was  another 
most  unfortunate  thing  for  Jackson,  and  caused  him 
great  unpopularity  in  Tennessee  until  his  military 
victories  turned  popular  attention  from  it , 

Jackson  lived  a  comparatively  quiet  life  for  the  few 
years  following,  nothing  of  importance  happening  except 
his  mistaken  connection  with  Aaron  Burr,  and  quarrel 
with  a  Mr.  Dinsmore,  an  agent  of  the  Choctaw  Indians. 
In  1812  the  second  war  with  Great  Britain  broke  out  and 
Jackson  at  once  tendered  his  services  to  the  government; 
they  were  gladly  accepted  and  the  rest  of  the  year  was 
devoted  by  him  in  raising  more  troops  and  organizing 


FROM  OBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.         243 

them  for  active  service.  During  the  early  part  of  1813 
he  started  across  the  country,  but  for  some  reason  the 
Secretary  of  War  ordered  him  to  disband  his  forces,  but 
he  marched  them  back  to  Tennessee.  It  was  on  this 
march  that  he  received  the  name  of  "Hickory,'^  which 
afterwards  became  "Old  Hickory." 

Arriving  at  Nashville  he  tendered  his  troops  to  the 
Government  for  an  invasion  of  Canada  but  the  Secretary 
of  War  never  even  answered  his  proposal,  and  finally  he 
disbanded  the  forces  on  May  22nd.  The  government 
failed  to  sustain  him  and  his  transportation  drafts  were 
allowed  to  go  to  protest.  This  must  have  ruined  Jack- 
son had  it  not  been  for  his  friend  Colonel  Benton,  who 
made  an  appeal  which  the  government  felt  bound  to 
comply  with,  as  it  was  made  plain  that  it  would  loose 
the  service  of  Tennessee  if  such  a  preposterous  act  was 
persisted  in. 

Thus  he  was  saved  from  what  might  have  been  an 
irretrievable  financial  misfortune.  Through  deceitful- 
ness  in  others  he  was  led  to  a  disgraceful  quarrelwith 
his  intimate  friend.  Colonel  Benton,  who  had  helped  him 
so  much  at  Washington.  The  difficulty  with  the  Creek 
Indians  arising ;  Jackson  with  his  'characteristic  energy 
helped  to  subjugate  them.  His  victory  over  the  Indians 
of  Horse  Shoe  Bend  is  so  familiar  to  every  American 
school-boy  that  it  is  needless  to  relate  the  details.  He 
now  gained  a  national  reputation,  and  was  made  a 
major-general  in  the  United  States  army,  and  soon  be- 
came the  acknowledged  military  leader  of  the  southwest. 

From  now  General  Jackson's  star  grew  steadily 
brighter,  and  he  began  to  develop  the  sterling  qualities 
which  he  unmistakably  possessed.  During  the  progress 
of  the  war  the  Spanish  authorities  who  then  controlled 


244  HIDDEN    TREASURES. 

Florida,  had  neither  the  power  nor  disposition  to  demand 
of  the  British  due  regard  to  the  rights  of  neutral  territory. 
They  seemed  to  sympathize  with  England,  as  Jackson 
could  gain  no  satisfaction  through  his  correspondence 
with  them,  and  as  neither  the  Spanish  or  British  could 
be  induced  to  change  their  purpose,  Jackson,  as  was  his 
custom  both  in  jDolitics  and  war  ever  afterward,  deter- 
mined to  act  without  orders. 

He  immediately  moved  upon  Pensacoia,  razed  the 
town  and  drove  the  English  forces  out  of  Florida.  Re- 
turning to  Mobile  he  learned  of  the  plan  of  the  British 
to  conquer  Louisiana.  He  immediately  marched  to  New 
Orleans,  but  the  city  was  miserably  defended,  and  his 
own  forces  were  a  motley  crew,  consisting  of  about  two 
thousand.  But  Jackson  made  the  most  of  his  opportu- 
nities. He  learned  the  plan  of  the  British  from  the  chief 
of  a  band  of  smugglers.  A^fter  a  few  preliminary  battles 
in  which  as  a  whole  the  Americans  were  victorious,, 
the  British  army,  now  twelve  thousand  strong,  was  joined 
by  General  Packenham,  who  was  a  brother-inlaw  of  the 
great  Duke  of  Wellington,  who  changed  the  plans  of  the 
British  army.  Jackson,  at  this  time,  was  joined  by  about 
two  thousand  more  troops,  but  they  were  poorly  armed. 

The  British  captured  a  whole  fleet  of  gun-boats. 
This  left  the  way  clear,  and  it  is  thought  that  had  the 
British  pushed  in  then,  as  Jackson  would  have  done, 
nothing  could  have  saved  the  day  for  America.  Jackson 
fell  back  and  threw  up  earth-works,  cotton-bales  and 
sand-bags  for  protection,  and  waited  for  the  enemy.  On 
the  memorable  day,  the  eighth  of  January,  the  army  ad- 
vanced;  Ridpath  says,  "They  went  to  a  terrible  fate.'' 

Packenham  hurled  column  after  column  at  the  Amer- 
ican breast-works  only  to  return  bleeding  and  torn.  The 


FROM  OBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.         245 

Americans  were  well  protected  while  the  veterans  of 
England  were  exposed  to  the  fire  of  the  Tennessee  and 
Kentucky  riflemen  and  the  result  was  awful,  the  enemy 
losing  not  only  General  Packenham,  their  commander, 
but  also  General  Gibbs,  leaving  only  General  Lambert  to 
lead  the  forces  from  the  field,  General  Keen  being  wounded 
The  loss  of  the  enemy  was  about  two  thousand  killed, 
wounded,  and  prisoners.  The  American's  loss  was  eight 
killed  and  thirteen  wounded. 

This  battle  was  a  most  fortunate  thing  for  Jackson 
for  the  reputation  this  gained  for  him  added  to  that 
already  gained  in  deciding  forever  the  white  man's  su- 
premacy in  America,  undoubtedly  made  him  President 
of  the  United  States.  He  became  Governor  of  Florida 
when  that  Territory  was  ceded  to  the  United  States  by 
Spain  in  1821,  but  he  held  the  position  only  a  few  months. 
In  1828  the  Tennessee  Legislature  made  him  a  Senator, 
and  later  he  was  nominated  for  the  Presidency.  This  at 
first  was  not  regarded  seriously,  as  many  had  misgivings 
as  to  his  capability  as  a  legislator,  although  all  admitted 
his  military  power.  The  election  proved  that  he  had 
great  political  strength  as  well,  receiving  the  largest 
number  of  electoral  votes,  99,  to  84  for  Adams,  41  for 
Crawford,  and  37  for  Clay.  As  no  one  had  a  majority 
the  case  was  decided  by  Congress,  who  gave  the  place  to 
Adams. 

The  opposition  to  the  administration  united  under 
Jackson,  and  in  the  next  election  he  was  triumphantly 
elected,  receiving  178  electoral  votes  to  83  for  Adams. 
In  this  campaign  Jackson's  private  life  was  bitterly  as- 
sailed, especially  was  the  manner  in  which  he  came  to 
be  married  misrepresented.    His  wife  died  only  a  short 


246  HIDDEN    TREASURES. 

time  after  his  election,  it  is  said,  from  the  influence  of 
the  vile  stories  which  were  circulated  regarding  her. 

He  entered  upon  his  duties  as  President,  with  his 
characteristic  firmness.  A  rupture  soon  arose  between 
him  and  the  Vice-President,  Mr.  Calhoun,  and  this  was 
intensified  when  Calhoun's  nullification  views  became 
known.  The  Democratic  party  outside  of  South  Caro- 
lina supported  the  administration.  The  cabinet  was 
soon  changed.  During  his  administration  over  seven- 
teen hundred  removals  from  office  were  made,  more  than 
had  occurred  in  all  previous  administrations.  His  ap- 
pointments  gave  much  offence  to  some,  and  with  a  degree 
of  reason,  it  must  be  admitted,  as  they  were  selected  wholly 
from  his  political  friends,  notwithstanding  his  previously 
avowed  principles,  which  were  implied  in  his  advice  to 
Mr.  Monroe  in  the  selection  of  his  Cabinet.  However, 
some  allowance  should  be  made  as  Jackson  had  a  seem- 
ing rebellion  on  hand,  and  one  hardly  could  blame  him 
for  desiring  men  on  whom  he  knew  he  could  depend  in 
the  promised  hours  of  peril. 

The  tariff  laws  were  especially  obnoxious  to  South 
Carolina,  of  the  Southern  States.  Now  Jackson  was  op- 
posed to  the  tariff  laws  himself,  but  as  long  as  the  laws 
remained  he  proposed  that  they  should  be  enforced  and 
when  South  Carolina  met  at  Columbia  and  passed  reso- 
lutions to  resist  the  existing  laws  and  declaring  in  favor 
of  State  rights,  he  promptly  sent  forces  to  quell  the 
promised  rebellion.  Seeing  what  kind  of  a  man  they 
had  to  deal  with  the  nullifiers  were  glad  to  seize  the 
excuse  for  not  proceeding,  which  Clay's  Compromise  Bill 
afforded.  This  bill  reduced  the  duties  gradually  until  at 
the  end  of  ten  years  they  would  reach  the  standard  de- 
sired  by  the  South.    His  re-election  was  even  more  con- 


FROM  OBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.         247 

elusive  than  the  former,  inasmuch  as  it  was  found  that 
he  had  carried  every  State  save  seven.  His  principal 
opponent  was  Henry  Clay,  who  represented  the  party  in 
favor  of  renewing  the  charter  of  the  United  States  bank. 
Jackson  was  bitterly  opposed  to  this  institution,  vetoed 
the  bill  to  re-charter  the  bank,  and  an  effort  to  pass  the 
bill  over  his  head  failing  to  receive  a  two-thirds  vote,  the 
bank  ceased  to  exist. 

He  conceived  the  idea  of  distributing  the  surplus  left 
by  the  bank,  about  ten  millions,  among  certain  banks 
named  for  that  purpose.  He  had  no  acknowledged 
authority  for  this  but  he  believed  himself  right  and  acted 
independently,  as  was  characteristic  in  such  cases.  A 
panic  ensued,  and  the  Whigs  claimed  that  this  measure 
of  Jackson's  was  the  cause,  while  the  Democrats  were 
equally  confident  that  the  financial  troubles  were  brought 
about  by  the  bank  itself,  which  was  described  as  an  in- 
stitution too  powerful  and  despotic  to  exist  in  a  free 
country. 

A  powerful  opposition  was  formed  in  the  Senate 
against  him,  headed  by  such  men  as  Calhoun,  Clay  and 
Webster,  and  finally  a  resolution  condemning  his  course 
was  adopted  by  a  vote  of  26  to  20,  but  was  afterward 
expunged  through  the  influence  of  his  intimate  friend, 
Colonel  Benton.  The  House  sustained  the  President 
throughout,  or  he  must  have  been  overthrown.  The  for- 
eign relations  of  our  Government  at  the  close  of  Jack- 
son's  administration  was  very  satisfactory  indeed.  The 
national  debt  was  extinguished,  and  new  States  were 
admitted  into  the  Union. 

He  issued  a  farewell  address  to  his  country,  and  re- 
tired to  private  life  at  the  Hermitage,  where  he  lived 
until  his  death  in  1845.    There  is  much  in  the  life  of 


248  HIDDEN   TREASURES. 

Andrew  Jackson  that  can  be  profitably  copied  by  the 
American  youth  of  to-day ;  notably  his  fixedness  of  pur- 
pose, indomitable  will,  and  great  love  of  truth.  There 
are  other  things  that  would  be  well  to  pass  by  and  give 
little  promise,  such  as  his  sporting  propensities.  Loss' 
ing  says :  *  The  memory  of  that  great  and  good  man  is 
revered  by  his  countrymen  next  to  that  of  Washington.' 
His  imposing  stature  occupies  a  conspicuous  place  in 
President's  Square,  Washington,  where  it  was  unveiled 
in  1852,  being  the  first  equestrian  statue  in  bronze  ever 
erected  in  America.  It  is  certain  that  he  exercised  a 
marked  influence  in  shaping  the  affairs  of  the  genera- 
tions that  were  to  follow  his  administration. 


Thomas  H,  Benton. 


mHOMAS  HART  BENTON  was  born  at  Hillsboro, 
X    North  Carolina,  March  14th,  1782.     During  his  youth 
he  enjoyed  few  educational  advantages,  his  father  dying 
while  he  was  a  child. 

He,  however,  persevered  and  completed  his  studies  at 
Chapel  Hill  University — supporting  himself  throughoui 
his  school  course.  Removing  to  Tennessee  he  began  the 
study  of  law  and  commenced  practice  at  Nashville,  where 
he  arose  to  eminence  at  the  bar.  When  elected  to  the 
legislature  of  the  State,  an  event  which  occurred  soon 
after  his  beginning  law  practice  in  Nashville,  he  pro- 
cured the  passage  of  a  bill  securing  to  slaves  the  right  of 


FROM  OBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.         249 

trial  by  jury.  In  the  war  of  1812  he  was  made  a  lieu- 
tenant-colonel, serving  on  the  staff  of  General  Jackson. 

In  1814-15  Colonel  Benton  took  up  his  residence  in 
St.  Louis,  Missouri,  and  established  the  Missouri  Enquirer, 
It  is  stated  that  this  enterprise  involved  him  in  several 
duels,  one  of  which  resulted  fatally  to  his  opponent,  Mr. 
Lucas.  Mr.  Benton  took  a  leading  part  in  the  admission 
of  his  adopted  State  into  the  Union,  and  in  1820  he  was 
elected  one  of  her  first  senators,  and  remained  a  member 
of  the  national  government  for  thirty  consecutive  years ; 
a  leader  of  his  party  in  debate. 

He  warmly  supported  Jackson  in  his  administration 
of  the  affairs  of  the  government,  and  as  is  well-known 
rendered  him  valuable  and  efficient  service  by  his  speech 
on  the  expunging  resolution  which  he  successfully  car- 
ried through  the  senate.  In  1829  he  made  a  speech  on 
the  salt  tax,  which  was  a  masterly  production,  and  through 
its  influence  is  due  largely  the  repeal  of  the  same. 

He  was  among  the  foremost  who  advocated  a  railroad 
to  the  Pacific  coast,  and  it  was  Thomas  Benton  who  first 
introduced  the  idea  of  congress  granting  pre-emption 
rights  to  actual  settlers.  He  favored  trade  with  New 
Mexico,  and  establishing  commerce  on  the  great  lakes. 
He  was  an  eminent  specie  advocate ;  so  vehement  was 
he  that  he  became  known  as  ''Old  Bullion,''  and  it  was 
through  his  influence  that  the  forty-ninth  parallel  was 
decided  upon  as  the  northern  boundary  of  Oregon.  He 
opposed  the  fugitive  slave  law,  and  openly  denounced 
nullification  views  wherever  expressed.  Nothing  but  his 
known  opposition  to  the  extension  of  slavery  caused  his 
final  defeat  in  the  legislature  when  that  body  chose 
another  to  succeed  him  in  the  United  States  senate. 

Thus  in  defence  of  human  liberty  ended  his  splendid 


250  HIDDEN    TREASURES. 

career  of  thirty  years  in  the  upper  house,  struck  down 
by  the  frown  of  demagogism.  Two  years  later  he  was 
elected  to  the  House  of  Representatives,  where  he  did 
noble  work  in  opposition  to  the  Kansas-Nebraska  act, 
denouncing  it  as  a  violation  of  the  Missouri  Compromise, 
and  was  defeated  as  a  candidate  for  congress  in  the  next 
campaign.  After  two  years  devotion  to  literature  he 
was  a  candidate  for  governor  of  his  State,  but  was  defeated 
by  a  third  ticket  being  placed  in  the  field.  He  was  the 
popular  candidate,  however,  of  the  three,  against  great 
odds  being  defeated  by  only  a  few  votes. 

During  this  year  he  supported  Mr.  Buchanan  for  the 
presidency  against  his  son-in-law,  Mr.  Fremont.  He  now 
retired  permanently  from  public  life,  devoting  his  exclu- 
sive attention  to  literature,  and  his  "Thirty  Years  View; 
or  a  History  of  the  Working  of  the  United  States  Govern- 
ment for  Thirty  Years  from  1820  to  1850,"  was  a  mas- 
terly piece  of  literature,  and  reached  a  mammoth  sale ; 
more  than  sixty  thousand  copies  being  sold  when  first 
issued.  When  this  was  finished  he  immediately  began 
another,  "An  Abridgment  of  the  Debates  of  Congress 
from  1789  to  1850."  Although  at  the  advanced  age  of 
seventy-six,  he  labored  at  this  task  daily,  the  latter  part 
of  which  was  dictated  while  on  his  death-bed,  and  while 
he  could  speak  only  in  whispers.  Surely  he  deserved  the 
success  which  had  attended  his  efforts.  He  died  in 
Washington  on  the  10th  day  of  April,  1858. 

He  had  a  large  and  grandly  proportioned  head,  and 
was  a  most  aggressive  debater.  It  was  in  the  Expunging 
Resolution  and  the  exciting  debates  in  which  he  bore  so 
prominent  a  part  that  he  gained  his  greatest  reputation. 
This  bill  and  the  manner  in  which  he  managed  its 
course  through  the  senate,  securing  its  adoption  against 


FROM  OBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.         251 

the  combined  effort  of  such  men  as  Clay,  Webster  and 
Calhoun  illustrates  the  characteristics  of  the  man  more 
clearly  than  anything  that  could  be  said  of  him.  When 
reading  the  life  of  Andrew  Jackson  the  reader  will  re- 
member that  the  senate  passed  a  resolution  condemning 
the  action  of  the  president,  Mr.  Jackson,  in  regard  to  the 
distribution  of  the  public  funds  in  the  following  lan- 
guage :  Besolved,  That  the  president  in  the  late  execu- 
tive proceedings  in  relation  to  the  public  revenue  has 
assumed  upon  himself  authority  and  power  not  conferred 
by  the  constitution  and  laws,  but  in  derogation  of  both. 

The  motion  of  Mr.  Benton  was  to  strike  from  the 
journals  of  the  senate  this  resolution  of  censure.  In 
support  of  the  president's  course  and  of  Mr.  Benton's 
proposed  method  of  vindication  various  public  proceed- 
ings were  had  in  various  sections  of  the  country,  and 
some  of  the  State  legislatures  not  only  voted  in  favor  of 
the  removal  of  the  record  of  censure  but  instructed  their 
congressional  delegations  to  use  their  influence  and  votes 
in  a  similar  direction. 

Mr.  Benton's  resolutions  rehearsed  the  principal 
points  involved  in  the  past  history  and  present  aspects 
of  the  controversy  quite  at  length,  the  closing  resolution 
being  as  follows :  "  That  the  said  resolve  be  expunged 
from  the  journal,  and  for  that  purpose  that  the  secretary 
of  the  Senate  at  such  time  as  the  Senate  may  appoint, 
shall  bring  the  manuscript  journal  of  the  session  1883-4 
into  the  Senate,  draw  black  lines  round  the  said  resolve, 
and  write  across  the  face  thereof  in  strong  letters  the 
following  words :  *  Expunged  by  order  of  the  Senate 
this  —  day  of  — ,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  — .' '' 

For  three  years  successively  did  Mr.  Benton  bring 
forward  on  different  occasions  his  celebrated  motion,  and 


"252  HIDDEN    TREASURES. 

again  and  again  he  suffered  defeat  after  the  most  scath- 
ing debates  that  ever  took  place  in  any  parliamentary 
body,  the  Senate  at  this  time  containing  an  unusual 
amount  of  oratorical  talent  and  forensic  power.  But 
the  last  scene,  and  with  it  victory  to  the  great  Missou- 
rian  and  his  presidential  master,  was  now  near  at  hand, 
and  this  scene,  as  described  by  Mr.  Benton  himself,  was 
as  follows : 

Saturday  the  fourteenth  of  January  the  Democratic 
Senators  agreed  to  have  a  meeting,  and  to  take  their 
final  measures  for  passing  an  expunging  resolution. 
They  knew  they  had  the  numbers,  but  they  also  knew 
they  had  adversaries  to  grapple  with  to  whom  might  be 
applied  the  motto  of  Louis  Fourteenth :  ^Not  an 
unequal  match  for  numbers.'  They  also  knew  that  mem- 
bers of  the  party  were  in  process  of  separating  from  it 
and  would  require  reconciliating.  They  met  in  the  night 
at  the  then  famous  restaurant  of  Boulanger  giving  to  the 
assemblage  the  air  of  convivial  entertainment.  It  con- 
tinued till  midnight  and  required  all  the  moderation, 
tact  and  skill  of  the  prime  movers  to  obtain  and  main- 
tain the  Union  in  details  on  the  success  of  which  de- 
pended the  fate  of  the  measure.  The  men  of  concillia- 
tion  were  to  be  the  efficient  men  of  that  night,  and  all 
the  winning  resources  of  Wright,  Allen  and  Linn  were 
put  in  requisition.  There  were  serious  differences  upon 
the  method  of  expurgation,  while  agreed  upon  the  thing; 
and  finally  obliteration,  the  favorite  mover,  was  given 
u]D  and  the  mode  of  expurgation  adopted  which  had  been 
proposed  in  the  resolution  of  the  general  assembly  of 
Virginia,  namely,  to  inclose  the  obnoxious  sentence  in  a 
square  of  black  lines — an  oblong  square,  a  compromise 
of  opinions  to  which  the  mover  agreed  upon  condition 


FROM  OBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.         25$ 

of  being  allowed  to  compose  the  the  epitaph,  "Expunged 
by  the  order  of  the  senate." 

The  agreement  which  was  to  lead  to  victory  was  then 
adopted,  each  one  severally  pledging  himself  to  it  that 
there  should  be  no  adjournment  of  the  senate  after  the 
resolution  was  called  until  it  was  passed,  and  that  it 
should  be  called  immediately  after  the  morning  business 
on  the  Monday  ensuing.  Expecting  a  protracted  session 
extending  through  the  day  and  night,  and  knowing  the 
difficulty  of  keeping  men  steady  to  their  work  and  in 
good  humor  when  tired  and  hungry,  the  mover  of  the 
proceeding  took  care  to  provide  as  far  as  possible  against 
such  a  state  of  things,  and  gave  orders  that  night  to  have 
an  ample  supply  of  cold  hams,  turkeys,  rounds  of  beef, 
pickles,  wines  and  cups  of  hot  coffee  ready  in  a  certain 
committee-room  near  the  senate  chamber  by  four  o'clock 
on  the  afternoon  of  Monday. 

The  motion  to  take  up  the  subject  was  made  at  the 
appointed  time,  and  immediately  a  debate  of  long 
speeches,  chiefly  on  the  other  side,  opened  itself 
upon  the  question.  As  the  darkness  of  approach- 
ing night  came  on  and  the  great  chandelier  was  lit  up, 
splendidly  illuminating  the  chamber  then  crowded  with 
the  members  of  the  house,  and  the  lobbies  and  galleries 
filled  to  their 'utmost  capacity  with  visitors  and  specta- 
tors, the  scene  became  grand  and  impressive.  A  few 
spoke  on  the  side  of  the  resolution,  chiefly  Rivers,  Buch- 
anan and  Niles,  and  with  an  air  of  ease  and  satisfaction 
that  bespoke  a  quiet  determination  and  consciousness  of 
victory. 

The  committee-room  was  resorted  to  in  parties  of 
four  and  six  at  a  time,  always  leaving  enough  on  watch^ 
and  not  resorted  to  by  one  side  alone.    The  opposition 


254  HIDDEN   TREASURES. 

were  invited  to  a  full  participation,  an  invitation  of 
which  those  who  were  able  to  maintain  their  temper 
availed  themselves  of,  but  the  greater  part  were  not  in 
a  humor  to  eat  anything — especially  at  such  a  feast.  The 
night  was  wearing  away,  the  expungers  were  in  full  force, 
masters  of  the  chamber  happy  and  visibly  determined 
to  remain.  It  became  evident  to  the  great  opposition 
leaders  that  the  inevitable  hour  had  come  that  the 
'damnable  deed  was  to  be  done  that  nis^ht/  and  that  the 
dignity  of  silence  was  no  longer  to  them  a  tenable 
position. 

The  battle  was  going  against  them,  and  they  must  go 
into  it  without  being  able  to  re-establish  it.  In  the  be- 
ginning they  had  not  considered  the  expunging  move- 
ment a  serious  iDroceeding,  as  it  advanced  they  still  ex- 
pected it  to  miscarry  on  some  point,  now  the  reality  of 
the  thing  stood  before  them  confronting  their  presence 
and  refusing  to  "  down  "  at  any  command. 

Mr.  Calhoun  opposed  the  measure  in  a  speech  of  great 
severity.  The  day,  said  he,  is  gone,  night  approaches 
and  night  is  suitable  to  the  dark  deed  we  meditate ;  there 
is  a  sort  of  destiny  in  this  thing,  the  act  must  be  per- 
formed, and  it  is  an  act  which  will  tell  upon  the  politi- 
cal history  of  this  country  forever.  Mr.  Clay  indulged 
in  unmeasured  denunciation  of  the  whole  thing.  The 
last  speech  in  opposition  to  the  measure  was  made  by 
Mr.  Webster,  who  employed  the  strongest  language  he 
could  command  condemnatory  of  an  act  which  he  de- 
clared was  so  unconstitutional,  so  derogatory  to  the  char- 
acter of  the  senate,  and  marked  with  so  broad  an  impres- 
sion of  compliance  with  power.  But  though  thus 
pronounced  an  irregular  and  unconstitutional  proceeding 
by  Mr.  Webster  and  the  other  senators  with  whom  he 


FROM  OBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.         255 

sided  and  voted,  Mr.  John  Quincy  Adams,  who  was  at  the 
time  a  member  of  the  house,  and  in  direct  antagonism, 
politically,  with  Mr.  Benton,  and  to  the  Jackson  admin- 
tration  held  a  different  opinion. 

Midnight  was  now  approaching.  The  dense  masses 
which  filled  every  inch  of  the  room  in  the  lobbies  and 
in  the  galleries  remained  immovable.  No  one  went  out, 
no  one  could  get  in.  The  floor  of  the  Senate  was 
crammed  with  privileged  persons,  and  it  seemed  that  all 
Congress  was  there.  Expectation  and  determination  to 
see  the  conclusion  were  depicted  on  every  countenance. 
It  was  evident  there  was  to  be  no  adjournment  until  the 
vote  should  be  taken — until  the  deed  was  done,  and  this 
aspect  of  invincible  determination  had  its  effect  upon 
the  ranks  of  the  opposition.  They  began  to  falter  under 
a  useless  resistance  ;  they  alone  now  did  the  talking,  and 
while  Mr.  Webster  was  yet  reciting  his  protest  two  Sen- 
ators from  the  opposition  side  who  had  been  best  able  to 
maintain  their  equanimity,  came  around  to  the  mover  of 
the  resolution  and  said  :  ^  This  question  has  degenerated 
into  a  trial  of  nerves  and  muscles.  It  has  become  a 
question  of  physical  endurance,  and  we  see  no  use  in 
wearing  ourselves  out  to  keep  off  for  a  few  hours  longer 
what  has  to  come  before  we  separate.  We  see  that  you 
are  able  and  determined  to  carry  your  measure — so  call 
the  vote  as  soon  as  you  please.  We  shall  say  no  more.' 
Webster  concluded.  No  one  arose.  There  was  a 
pause,  a  dead  silence,  and  an  intense  feeling.  Presently 
the  silence  was  invaded  by  the  single  word  ^question' — 
the  parliamentary  call  for  a  vote — rising  from  the  seats 
of  different  Senators.  One  blank  in  the  resolve  re- 
mained to  be  filled — the  date  of  its  adoption.  It  was 
done.    The  acting  President  of  the  Senate,  Mr.  King,  of 


256  '         HIDDEN   TREASURES. 

Alabama,  then  directed  the  roll  to  be  called.  The  yeas 
and  nays  had  been  previously  ordered,  and  proceeded  to 
be  called  by  the  Secretary  of  the  Senate,  the  result 
showing  a  majority  of  five  on  the  side  of  the  expungers. 
The  passage  of  the  resolution  was  announced  by  the 
chair.  Mr.  Benton  arose,  and  said  that  nothing  now 
remained  but  to  execute  the  order  of  the  Senate,  which 
he  moved  to  be  done  forthwith.  It  was  ordered  accord- 
ingly. The  secretary  thereupon  produced  the  original 
manuscript  journal  of  the  Senate,  and  opening  at  the 
page  which  contained  the  condemnatory  sentence  of 
March  28,  1834,  proceeded  in  open  Senate  to  draw  a 
square  of  broad  black  lines  around  the  sentence,  and  to 
write   across  its  face  in  strong  letters  :     Expunged  by 

ORDER  OF  THE  SeNATE  THIS  16tH  DAY  OF  JANUARY,  1837. 


./■ 


Henry  Clay. 


A  FEW  miles  from  old  Hanover  court-house  in  Vir- 
ginia, where  the  splendors  of  Patrick  Henry's  genius 
first  beamed  forth,  is  a  humble  dwelling  by  the  road-side, 
in  the  midst  of  a  miserably  poor  region  known  as  the 
slashes.  There,  on  the  12th  of  April,  1777,  Henry  Clay, 
the  great  American  statesman,  was  born,  and  from  the 
district-schools  of  his  neigborhood  he  derived  his  educa- 
tion. He  was  the  son  of  a  Baptist  clergyman  of  very 
limited  means,  hence  his  early  advantages  were  of  nec- 
essity meager.  He  was  very  bashful  and  diffident,  scarcely 
16 


o 
m 

H 
m 


> 

H 
O 


FROM  OBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.         257 

dare  recite  before  his  class  at  school,  but  he  determined 
to  BECOME  AN  ORATOR,  hc  accordingly  began  the  plan  of 
committing  speeches  and  then  reciting  them  in  the  corn- 
fields ;  at  other  times  they  were  delivered  in  the  barn, 
before  the  cows  and  horse. 

Henry  became  a  copyist  in  the  office  of  the  clerk  of 
the  Court  of  Chancery,  at  Richmond.  Here  he  was  ena- 
bled to  begin  the  study  of  law,  an  opportunity  which  he  at 
once  embraced.  While  other  boys  were  improving  their 
time  ^  having  fun,'  he  was  studying,  and  so  closely  did  he 
occupy  his  odd  time  that  he  was  enabled  to  pass  the 
necessary  examination  and  be  admitted  to  the  bar  at  the 
early  age  of  twenty.  Two  years  later  he  moved  "West," 
(he  was  enterprising),  settling  at  Lexington,  Kentucky, 
where  he  entered  upon  the  practice  of  law. 

Here  he  became  an  active  politician  as  well  as  a  pop- 
ular lawyer.  He  was  an  intelligent  young  man,  an;i 
early  cultivated  a  genial  disposition  which  was  a  lead- 
ing feature  of  his  splendid  success  in  life.  In  1799  Ken- 
tucky called  a  convention  for  the  purpose  of  revising 
the  constitution  of  the  State.  During  this  campaign 
young  Clay  labored  earnestly  to  elect  delegates  to  that 
convention  favorable  to  the  extinction  of  slavery.  Thus 
early  he  manifested  an  interest  in  a  question  many  years 
in  advance  of  his  countrymen.  This  is  the  man  who, 
when  afterward  told  that  his  action  on  a  certain  measure 
would  certainly  injure  his  political  prospect  replied,  "I 

WOULD  RATHER  BE  RIGHT  THAN  BE  PRESIDENT." 

It  was  even  so  in  this  case,  his  action  in  behalf  of  the 
freedom  of  slaves  offended  many  but  his  opposition  to 
the  obnoxious  alien  and  sedition  laws  later  restored  him 
to  popular  favor.  After  serving  in  the  State  legislature 
with  some  distinction  he  was  elected  to  fill  the  unex- 


258  HIDDEN   TREASURES. 

pired  term  of  General  Adair  in  the  United  States  Senate. 
Here  he  made  excellent  use  of  his  time,  advocating  bills 
on  internal  improvements,  accomplishing  much  toward 
that  end,  although  his  time  expired  at  the  end  of 
the  year.  He  left  an  impression  on  that  body  which  fore- 
told his  future  greatness.  He  was  now  returned  to  his 
State  legislature  where  he  was  elected  speaker,  a  postion 
which  he  held  for  the  next  two  terms. 

Another  vacancy  occurred  and  Mr.  Clay  was  again 
elected  to  fill  the  unexpired  time  in  the  United  States 
Senate.  This  time  he  remained  a  member  of  that  body 
two  years,  and  it  was  during  this  term  that  he  placed 
himself  on  record  as  one  of  the  first  and  most  powerful 
of  early  protectionists;  he  also  favored  the  admission  of 
Louisiana  as  a  State.  His  term  expired,  he  returned  to 
his  constituents,  who  prom]3tly  elected  him  to  a  seat  in 
the  House  of  Representatives,  and  immediately  upon  his 
appearance  in  that  body  he  was  chosen  speaker  of  the 
House ! 

This  is  an  honor  without  parallel  in  the  whole  his- 
tory of  our  legislative  affairs.  It  was  at  this  session  that 
John  C.  Calhoun  and  William  H.  Crawford  first  made 
their  appearance  in  the  National  Congress.  The  duties 
of  this  high  office  he  discharged  with  marked  ability  and 
great  satisfaction  through  that  and  the  succeeding  Con- 
gress until  1814,  when  he  was  appointed  one  of  the  com- 
missioners to  negotiate  at  Ghent,  a  treaty  of  peace  with 
Great  Britain.  Abroad  Mr.  Clay  proved  to  be  a  diplo- 
mate  of  no  mean  ability,  and  during  his  absence  he  was 
re-elected  to  the  National  Congress,  and  upon  his  re-ap- 
pearance in  that  august  assembly  was  immediately 
chosen  speaker. 

Mr.  Clay  was  one  of  the  unsuccessful  candidates  for 


FROM  OBSCURITY  TO  GRBAT  HONOR.         259 

the  presidency  in  1824,  receiving  thirty-seven  electoral 
votes,  but  became  Secretary  of  State  under  John  Quincy 
Adams,  who  was  chosen  president  by  Congress.  In  1831, 
after  a  temporary  retirement,  he  was  elected  to  the 
National  Senate,  this  time  for  a  full  term  of  six  years. 
His  services  during  this  period  were  very  important. 
His  compromise  measure  was  probably,  under  the  cir- 
cumstances, one  of  the  most  important  bills  that  ever 
passed  the  senate.  As  is  well-known,  it  secured  the 
gradual  reduction  of  the  tariff  for  ten  years,  thus  satis- 
fying the  South,  but  allowing  the  manufacturers  time  to 
accommodate  themselves  to  the  change.  Mr.  Clay  was 
a  strong  protectionist  but  this  was  a  compromise  on 
both  sides  which  Clay  was  willing  to  make,  even  though 
it  might  be  to  satisfy  a  political  opponent — Calhoun — to 
whom  he  was  bitterly  opposed. 

Certain  it  is  when  he  saw  his  country  in  danger  Henry 
Clay  was  not  the  one  to  allow  partisan  hate  to  stand  in 
opposition  to  any  bill  which  might  tend  to  peace,  and 
while  this  measure  had  little  merit  in  it  of  itself,  still  it 
averted  a  civil  war  at  that  time.  In  1834  President  Jack- 
son proposed  to  Congress  that  they  should  give  him 
authority  to  secure  indemnity  from  France  through 
reprisals.  Mr.  Clay,  as  chairman  of  the  Committe  on 
Foreign  Affairs,  reported  that  Congress  would  not  be 
justified  in  so  doing,  as  the  neglect  on  the  part  of  France 
was  clearly  unintentional,  thus  war  was  once  more 
averted  through  the  influence  of  the  *  great  pacifier." 

At  the  presidential  election  of  1839  Mr.  Clay,  General 
Harrison,  and  General  Scott  were  submitted  to  the  Whig 
Convention  as  candidates.  Mr.  Clay  was  clearly  the 
choice  of  the  convention,  but  by  one  of  those  strange 
movements  which  so  often  occur  at  such  times  General 


260  HIDDEN   TREASURES. 

Harrison  was  nominated.  Many  of  Clay's  friends  were 
disposed  to  bolt,  but  Mr.  Clay  promptly  acknowledged 
the  ticket,  and  it  was  elected.  Then  followed  the  death 
of  the  President  in  office,  the  obnoxious  vetoes  of  the 
newly  installed  President — Tyler — the  division  of  the 
Whig  party,  the  nomination  of  Mr.  Clay  at  this  late 
inopportune  time  and  the  election  of  Mr.  Polk. 

At  the  next  convention  Mr.  Clay  was  a  very  promi- 
nent candidate  for  the  nomination,  but  Mr.  Taylor's  mil- 
itary career  seemed  to  carry  everything  with  it  and  he 
was  nominated  and  elected.  Had  Mr.  Clay  been  nomi- 
nated at  either  this  convention  or  in  1839  he  would  have 
been  elected,  but  like  Webster,  the  presidential  honors 
were  not  essential  to  perpetuate  his  name.  During  the 
year  1849,  as  the  people  of  Kentucky  were  about  to  re- 
model their  constitution,  Mr.  Clay  urged  them  to  embody 
the  principles  of  gradual  emancipation,  but  they  refused 
to  do  so. 

He  was  again  returned  to  the  senate,  and  during  this 
term  brought  out  the  compromise  act  of  1850.  This 
measure,  while  recognizing  no  legal  authority  for  the 
existence  of  slavery  in  the  newly  acquired  territory  of 
New  Mexico,  yet  declared  that  in  the  establishment  of 
territorial  governments  in  such  territory  no  restriction 
should  be  made  relative  to  slavery.  It  also  provided  for 
the  admission  of  California  without  restrictions  on  the 
feubject  of  slavery,  and  opposed  the  abolition  of  slavery 
in  the  District  of  Columbia.  The  bill  carried  with  slight 
changes.  Mr.  Clay  being  very  feeble  was  in  his  seat  but 
few  days  of  the  session. 

In  1852  he  gradully  sank  until  on  June  29th,  1852,  he 
died.  In  him  intellect,  reason,  eloquence,  and  courage 
united  to  form  a  character  fit  to  command.    It  was  the 


FROM  OBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.         261 

remark  of  a  distinguished  senator  that  Mr.  Clay's  eloquence 
was  absolutely  intangible  to  delineation ;  that  the  most 
labored  description  could  not  embrace  it,  and  that  to  be 
understood  it  must  be  seen  and  felt.  He  was  an  orator 
by 'nature,  and  by  his  indomitable  assiduity  he  at  once 
rose  to  prominence.  His  eagle  eye  burned  with  patriotic 
ardor  or  flashed  indignation  and  defiance  upon  his  foes 
or  was  suffused  with  commiseration  or  of  pity ;  and  it 
was  because  he  felt  that  made  others  feel. 

A  gentleman,  after  hearing  one  of  his  magnificent 
efforts  in  the  Senate,  thus  described  him :  "Every  mus- 
cle of  the  orator's  face  was  at  work.  His  whole  body 
seemed  agitated,  as  if  each  part  was  instinct  with  a  sepa- 
rate life  ;  and  his  small  white  hand  with  its  blue  veins 
apparently  distended  almost  to  bursting,  moved  grace- 
fully, but  with  all  the  energy  of  rapid  and  vehement 
gesture.  The  appearance  of  the  speaker  seemed  that  of 
a  pure  intellect  wrought  up  to  its  mightiest  energies  and 
brightly  shining  through  the  thin  and  transparent  will 
of  flesh  that  invested  it." 

The  particulars  of  the  duel  between  Mr.  Clay  and  Mr. 
Kandolph  maybe  interesting  to  our  readers.  The  eccentric 
descendant  of  Pocahontas  appeared  on  the  ground  in  a 
huge  morning  gown.  This  garment  had  such  a  vast  cir- 
cumference that  the  precise  whereabouts  of  the  lean 
senator  was  a  matter  of  very  vague  conjecture.  The 
parties  exchanged  shots  and  the  ball  of  Mr.  Clay  hit  the 
centre  of  the  visible  object,  but  the  body  of  Mr.  Randolph 
was  untouched.  Immediately  after  the  exchange  of 
shots  Mr.  Clay  instantly  approached  Mr.  Randolph,  and 
with  a  gush  of  the  deepest  emotion  said,  *I  trust  in  God, 
my  dear  sir,  you  are  untouched;  after  what  has  occurred 
I  would  not  have  harmed  you  for  a  thousand  worlds." 


262  HIDDEN    TREASURES. 

The  incident  referred  to  above  as  ^occurring'  was  the 
fact  of  Mr.  Randolph's  firing  in  the  air,  thus  publicly 
proclaiming  his  intention  not  to  harm  Mr.  Clay  at  all 
events. 

In  person,  Clay  w^as  tall  and  commanding,  being  six 
feet  and  one  inch  in  stature,  and  vv^as  noted  for  the  erect 
appearance  he  presented,  while  standing,  walking,  or 
talking.  The  most  striking  features  of  his  countenance 
were  a  high  forehead,  a  prominent  nose,  an  uncommonly 
large  mouth,  and  blue  eyes  which,  though  not  particu- 
larly expressive  when  in  repose,  had  an  electrical  appear- 
ance when  kindled.  His  voice  was  one  of  extraordinary 
compass,  melody  and  power.  From  the  'deep  and  dread- 
ful sub-bass  of  the  organ'  to  the  most  aerial  warblings 
of  its  highest  key,  hardly  a  pipe  or  stop  was  wanting. 
Like  all  the  magical  voices,  it  had  the  faculty  of  impart- 
ing to  the  most  familiar  and  commonplace  expressions 
an  inexpressible  fascination.  Probably  no  orator  ever 
lived  who,  when  speaking  on  a  great  occasion,  was  more 
completely  absorbed  with  his  theme.  ''I  do  not  know 
how  it  is  with  others,"  he  once  said,  ''but,  on  such  occa- 
sions, I  seem  to  be  unconscious  of  the  ext-ernal  world. 
Wholly  engrossed  by  the  subject  before  me,  I  lose  all 
sense  of  personal  identity,  of  time,  or  of  surrounding 
objects." 


-^ii{<- 


FROM  OBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.        263 


Martin  VanBuren. 


IN  the  quiet  little  village  of  Kinderhook,  New  York, 
there  was  at  the  close  of  the  Revolution,  an  indiffer- 
ent tavern  kept  by  a  Dutchman  named  Van  Buren. 
There  his  distinguished  son  Martin  was  born  on  the  5th 
day  of  December,  1782. 

After  attending  the  academy  in  his  native  village  he, 
at  the  age  of  fourteen,  began  the  study  of  law.  His  success 
was  phenomenal  from  the  beginning,  and  he  has  passed  in- 
to history  as  an  indefatigable  student  all  through  life.  In 
1808  he  was  made  surrogate  of  his  native  county.  In 
1812  he  was  elected  to  the  senate  of  his  native  State  and 
in  that  body  voted  for  electors  pledged  to  support  DeWitt 
Clinton  for  the  presidency.  He  was  attorney-general  of 
the  State  from  1815  until  1819.  Mr.  Yan  Buren  was  a 
very  able  politician  and  it  was  through  his  influence 
that  the  celebrated  ^Albany  Regency,'  vv^hose  influence 
ruled  the  State  uninterruptedly  for  over  twenty  years, 
was  set  on  foot. 

In  1821  Mr.  Yan  Buren  was  chosen  to  the  United  States 
Senate  and  was  made  a  member  of  the  convention  to 
revise  the  State  constitution.  In  the  latter  body  he  ad- 
vocated the  extension  of  the  elective  franchise,  but  op- 
posed universal  sufferage,  as  also  the  plan  of  appointing 
justices  of  the  peace  by  popular  election.  He  voted 
against  depriving  the  colored  citizens  of  the  franchise 
but  supported  the  proposal  to  require  of  them  a  freehold 
qualification  of  $250.    In  1828  he  was  elected  governor 


264  HIDDEN   TREASURES. 

of  the  great  State  of  New  York  and  resigned  his  seat  in 
the  National  Congress  to  assume  this  new  position.  As 
governor  he  opposed  the  safety  fund  system  which  was 
adopted  by  the  legislature  in  1829.  In  the  month  of 
March  of  the  next  year  after  assuming  the  gubernatorial 
chair  he  accepted  the  leading  position  in  the  cabinet  of 
President  Jackson  but  resigned  two  years  later. 

On  May  22nd,  1882,  he  was  nominated  for  the  office  of 
vice-president  on  the  ticket  with  General  Jackson,  and 
was  elected.  The  Democratic  National  Convention, 
which  met  at  Baltimore  May  20th,  1835,  unanimously 
nominated  him  for  the  presidency,  and  in  the  ensuing 
election  he  received  170  electoral  votes  out  of  a  total  of 
283, — 73  being  cast  for  his  principal  antagonist,  General 
Harrison.  The  country  was  now  plunged  into  the  deepest 
pecuniary  embarrassments,  the  result  of  previous  hot- 
house schemes  and  speculations,  rather  than  the  result 
of  the  administrative  measures  of  YanBuren.  He  had 
succeeded  to  the  presidency  at  a  most  unfortunate  time. 
Commerce  was  prostrate ;  hundreds  of  mercantile  houses 
in  every  quarter  were  bankrupt ;  imposing  public  meet- 
ings attributed  these  disasters  to  the  policy  of  the 
government. 

On  May  15th,  he  summoned  an  extraordinary  session 
of  congress  to  meet  the  following  September.  The 
president  in  his  message  advised  that  a  bankrupt  law  for 
banking  and  other  incorporations  be  enacted ;  and  that 
the  approaching  deficit  in  the  treasury  be  made  good  by 
withholding  from  the  States  the  fourth  and  last  install- 
ment of  a  previous  large  surplus  ordered  to  be  deposited 
with  them  by  act  of  June  23rd,  1836,  and  by  the  tempo- 
rary issue  of  $6,000,000  of  treasury  notes.  He  also  rec- 
ommended the  adoption  of  what  was  called  the  independ- 


FROM  OBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.         265 

ent  treasury  system,  which  was  passed  in  the  senate,  but 
was  laid  on  the  table  in  the  other  branch  of  congress. 
The  payment  of  the  fourth  installment  to  the  States  was 
postponed,  and  the  emission  of  $10,000,000  of  treasury 
notes  was  authorized. 

Again  the  President  in  his  next  annual  message 
recommended  the  passage  of  the  independent  treasury 
bill,  but  the  measure  was  again  rejected.  Another  presi- 
dential measure,  however,  was  more  fortunate,  a  so-called 
pre-emption  law  being  enacted,  giving  settlers  on  public 
lands  the  right  to  buy  them  in  preference  to  others. 
Yan  Buren^s  third  annual  message  was  largely  occu- 
pied with  financial  discussions  and  especially  with 
argument  in  favor  of  the  divorcement  of  the  national 
government  from  the  banks  throughout  the  country,  and 
for  the  exclusive  receipt  and  payment  of  gold  and  silver 
in  all  public  transactions ;  that  is  to  say,  for  the  inde- 
pendent treasury.  Through  his  urgent  arguments  in  its 
favor  it  became  a  law  June  30,  1840,  and  it  is  the  distin- 
guishing feature  in  his  administration.  The  canvass  of 
1840  was  early  begun  by  the  opposition,  and  became  a 
bitterly  contested  one.  The  Whigs  placed  Harrison  at 
the  head  of  their  ticket  and  as  Yan  Buren  had  no  com- 
petitor, he  became  the  candidate  of  the  Democracy, 
Never  in  the  political  history  of  the  United  States  had 
there  been  such  universal  excitement  as  was  displayed 
in  the  ensuing  campaign.  The  great  financial  trials 
through  which  the  government  had  passed  were  made 
the  basis  of  all  argument  by  the  press  and  orators  for 
the  opposition. 

Charges  of  corruption,  extravagance  and  indifference 
to  the  welfare  of  the  laboring  classes  were  collected  and 
dumped  upon  poor  Yan  Buren.    Thus  was  Yan  Buren 


266  HIDDEN    TREASURES. 

represented,  while  the  enthusiasm  for  Harrison  was 
greatly  augmented  by  log  cabins,  emblematical  of  his 
humble  origin.  This  time  Van  Buren  received  only  60 
electoral  votes,  while  General  Harrison  received  234. 
His  last  annual  message  set  forth  with  renewed  energy 
the  benefits  of  the  independent  treasury;  announced  with 
satisfaction  that  the  government  was  without  a  public 
de  ot ;  and  earnestly  advised  the  enactment  of  more  strin- 
gent laws  for  the  suppression  of  the  African  slave  trade. 

In  1844  Mr.  Van  Buren's  friends  once  more  urged  his 
nomination  for  the  presidency  by  the  Democratic  national 
convention  at  Baltimore.  But  he  was  rejected  there  on 
account  of  his  opposition  to  the  annexation  of  Texas  to 
the  Union,  avowed  in  a  public  letter  to  a  citizen  of  Mis- 
sissippi who  had  asked  for  his  position  on  that  question. 
Though  a  majority  of  the  delegates  in  the  convention 
were  pledged  to  his  support,  a  rule  being  passed  making 
a  two-thirds  vote  necessary  to  a  choice,  proved  fatal  to 
his  interest.  For  several  ballots  he  led  all  competil^ors 
when  he  withdrew  his  name  and  Mr.  Polk  was  nomi- 
nated on  the  ninth  ballot. 

In  1848,  when  the  Democrats  had  nominated  General 
Cass,  and  avowed  their  readiness  to  tolerate  slavery  in 
the  new  territories  lately  acquired  from  Mexico,  Mr. 
Van  Buren  and  his  adherents  adopting  the  name  of  the 
free  democracy  at  once  began  to  discuss  in  public  that 
new  aspect  of  the  slavery  question. 

They  held  a  convention  at  Utica  on  June  22nd  which 
nominated  Mr.  Van  Buren  for  president,  and  Henry 
Dodge  of  Wisconsin  for  vice-president.  Mr.  Dodge  de- 
clined, and  at  a  great  convention  in  Buffalo  on  August 
9th,  Charles  Francis  Adams  was  substituted.  The  con- 
vention declared:    "Congress  has  no  more  right  to  make 


FROM  OBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.         267 

a  slave  than  to  make  a  king;  it  is  the  duty  of  the  federal 
government  to  relieve  itself  from  all  responsibility  for 
the  existence  and  continuance  of  slavery  wherever  the 
government  possesses  constitutional  authority  to  legis- 
late on  that  subject  and  is  thus  responsible  for  its 
existence.' ' 

In  accepting  the  nomination  of  this  new  party  Mr. 
Van  Buren  declared  his  full  assent  to  its  anti-slavery 
principles.  The  result  was  that  in  New  York  he  re- 
ceived the  votes  of  more  than  half  of  those  who  had 
hitherto  been  attached  to  the  Democratic  party,  and 
that  General  Taylor  the  candidate  of  the  Whig  party 
was  elected.  At  the  outbreak  of  the  civil  war  he  at  once 
declared  himself  in  favor  of  maintaining  the  Republic  as 
a  Union.  Unhappily  he  died  before  the  close  of  the  war 
and  was  thus  deprived  the  satisfaction  of  seeing  perpetu- 
ated the  Union  he  so  dearly  loved.  On  the  24th  of  July, 
1872,  at  his  home  in  Kinderhook,  he  passed  from  death 
into  life. 


Stephen  Arnold  Douglass. 


ONE  of  the  most  noted  statesman  of  the  day  was  the 
subject  of  this  narrative.  Short,  thickset,  and  mus- 
cular in  person,  and  strong  in  intellect  Stephen  A.  Doug- 
lass came  to  be  known  as  '  The  Little  Giant.' 

For  many  years  he  held  a  very  conspicuous  place  in 
the  political  history  of  the  republic.    He  was  a  native 


26S  HIDDEN    TREASURES. 

of  the  ^  Green  Mountain  State,' being  born  at  Brandon, 
April  23d,  1813.  When  he  was  about  two  months  old 
his  father,  who  was  a  physician,  died,  and  his  mother 
removed  to  a  small  farm,  where  Stephen  remained  until 
he  was  about  fifteen  years  old.  Having  received  a  com- 
mon school  education  he  was  very  anxious  to  take  a 
college  course,  but  this  being  impossible,  he  determined 
thereafter  to  earn  his  own  living.  He  accordingly  ap- 
prenticed himself  to  a  cabinet-maker,  but  his  health 
would  not  allow  the  pursuit  of  this  business,  and  he  was 
compelled  to  abandon  the  undertaking. 

When  he  was  possibly  able  he  removed  to  Illinois. 
Upon  his  arrival  in  Jacksonville  his  entire  wealth  con- 
sisted of  the  sum  of  thirty-seven  cents.  He  determined 
to  start  a  school  at  a  place  called  Winchester,  some 
fifteen  miles  from  Jacksonville,  and  as  he  had  little 
money,  walked  the  entire  distance.  Arriving  in  Win- 
chester the  first  sight  that  met  his  eyes  was  a  crowd 
assembled  at  an  auction,  and  he  secured  employment 
for  the  time  being  as  clerk  for  the  auctioneer.  For  this 
service,  which  lasted  three  days,  he  received  $6,  and  with 
this  sum  he  started  a  school,  which  occupied  his  atten- 
tion during  the  day. 

For  two  years  previous  he  had  studied  law  during  his 
SPARE  moments;  much  of  his  time  nights  was  now  devoted 
to  the  completion  of  his  legal  studies.  Being  admitted  to 
the  bar  during  the  following  year,  1834,  he  opened  an 
office  and  began  practicing  in  the  higher  courts  where 
he  was  eminently  successful,  acquiring  a  lucrative  prac- 
tice,  and  he  was  elected   attorney-general   of  the 

STATE    before    HE    WAS   TWENTY-TWO. 

He  soon  became  a  member  of  the  legislature, 
taking  his  seat  as  the  youngest  member  in  that  body. 


FROM  OBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.         269 

I 

He  was  the  Democratic  nominee  for  Congress  before  lie 
had  acquired  the  required  age,  however,  his  twenty-fifth 
birth-day  occurred  before  election,  thus  this  obstacle  was 
removed.  In  his  district  a  most  spirited  canvass  took 
place,  and  out  of  over  thirty-five  thousand  votes  cast,  his 
opponent  was  declared  elected  by  only  five.  He  was 
appointed  register  of  the  land  office  at  Springfield,  but 
resigned  this  position  in  1839.  He  became  Secretary  of 
State  the  following  year,  and  in  1841  was  elected  a  judge 
of  the  Supreme  Court  at  the  age  of  twenty-eight.  This 
position  he  also  resigned  two  years  after  to  represent  his 
district  in  congress  where  he  was  returned  by  successive 
elections  until  1848. 

He  was  recognized  as  one  of  the  able  members  while 
in  the  national  legislature,  and  his  speeches  on  the  Oregon 
question  are  models.  He  next  became  a  Senator  from  his 
State,  and  supported  President  Polk  in  the  Mexican 
war.  As  is  well-known  he  was  the  father  of  the  Kansas- 
Nebraska  act,  popularly  known  as  ^  Squatter  Sovereignty,' 
carrying  the  measure  through  in  spite  of  great  opposition. 

He  was  a  strong  candidate  for  the  Democratic  nomi- 
nation for  the  presidency  in  1852,  and  his  strength  was 
still  more  developed  four  years  later  when  he  was  the 
favorite  candidate  save  one,  James  Buchanan,  who  finally 
received  the  honor.  At  the  end  of  the  next  four  years 
he  was  nominated  by  the  convention  meeting  at  Charles- 
ton, and  was  the  unanimous  choice  of  the  northern  wing 
of  the  Democracy,  but  bitterly  opposed  by  the  Southern 
faction,  who  nominated  Mr.  Breckinridge  at  a  separate 
convention.  This  caused  a  split  in  the  Democratic  vote, 
and  Mr.  Lincoln  was  elected  on  a  minority  of  the  total 
vote  cast. 

Stephen  A.  Douglass  however,  like  Webster  and  Clay, 


270  HIDDEN   TREASURES. 

needed  not  the  honor  of  occupying  the  presidential  chair 
to  make  his  name  illustrious.  He  was  remarkably  suc- 
cessful in  the  promotion  of  his  State's  interest  in  Con- 
gress. To  him  is  due  the  credit  of  securing  the  splendid 
grant  of  land  which  brought  about  the  successful  opera- 
tion of  the  Illinois  Central  railroad  which  contributed 
so  much  toward  the  weakened  resources  of  the  State. 
As  previously  stated,  Mr.  Douglass  was  defeated  by  Mr. 
Lincoln,  yet  at  the  outbreak  of  the  civil  war  his  voice 
was  heard  in  earnest  pleas  for  the  Union,  declaring  that 
if  this  system  of  resistance  by  the  sword,  when  defeated 
at  the  ballot-box  was  persisted  in,  then  ''The  history  of 
the  United  States  is  already  written  in  the  history  of 
Mexico." 

He  most  strongly  denounced  secession  as  a  crime  and 
characterized  it  as  madness.  His  dying  words  were  in 
defence  of  the  Union.  To  say  that  Mr.  Douglass  was  a 
wonderful  man  is  the  least  that  can  be  said,  while  more 
could  be  added  in  his  praise  with  propriety.  As  an 
orator  he  was  graceful,  and  possessed  natural  qualities 
wiiich  carried  an  audience  by  storm.  He  died  June  3rd, 
1861,  at  the  outbreak  of  the  civil  war.  Had  he  lived  no 
one  would  have  rendered  more  valuable  assistance  in 
the  suppression  of  that  gigantic  rebellion  than  would 
Stephen  A.  Douglass. 

But  it  was  in  the  great  political  debate  between  him- 
self and  Abraham  Lincoln  that  Mr.  Douglass  gained  his 
greatest  notoriety  as  well  as  Lincoln  himself.  The  de- 
tails of  this  debate  will  be  seen  in  our  sketch  of  Mr. 
Lincoln. 


FROM  OBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.         271 


Abbott  Lawrence. 


SOLOMON  said:  "Seest  thou  a  man  diligent  in  his 
business?  he  shall  stand  before  kings, — he  shall 
not  stand  before  mean  men."  How  true  are  those  words; 
how  often  have  we  seen  them  demonstrated. 

Abbott  Lawrence,  brother  of  Amos  Lawrence,  was 
born  December  16,  1792,  and  what  education  he  had  he 
received  at  the  academy  in  Groton.  When  about  six- 
teen years  of  age  he  took  the  stage  for  Boston,  with  the 
princely  sum  of  three  dollars  in  his  pocket.  He  entered 
the  store  of  his  brother  Amos  as  clerk.  After  five  years 
of  faithful  service  he  was  taken  in  as  pad^ner,  and  the 
firm-style  became  A.  &  A.  Lawrence. 

The  war  of  1812  came  on,  and  Abbott,  who  possessed 
less  money  than  his  brother,  failed,  but  he  was  not  dis- 
heartened. He  applied  to  the  government  for  a  position 
in  the  army,  but  before  his  application  could  be  acted 
upon  peace  was  declared. 

After  the  war  his  brother  Amos  helped  him,  and  once 
more  they  entered  into  partnership,  Abbott  going  to 
England  to  buy  goods  for  the  firm.  About  1820  the 
Lawrence  brothers,  with  that  enterprise  which  charac- 
terizes all  great  business  men,  commenced  manufactur- 
ing goods  in  America,  instead  of  importing  them  from 
the  old  world,  and  to  the  Lawrences  is  due  no  small 
credit,  as  the  cities  of  Lowell  and  Lawrence  will  testify. 
He  was  a  member  of  the  celebrated  convention  at 
Harrisburg,   Pennsylvania,  whose  recommendations  to 


272  HIDDEN    TREASURES. 

Congress  resulted  in  the  tariff  act  of  182S,  which  was  so 
obnoxious  to  Calhoun  and  the  Cotton  States.  In  1834 
Mr.  Lawrence  was  elected  to  Congress,  where  he  did 
valuable  service  on  the  Committee  of  Ways  and  Means. 
He  declined  re-election,  but  afterward  was  persuaded  to 
become  a  candidate  and  was  again  elected.  By  the 
advice  of  Daniel  Webster  he  was  sent  to  England  on  the 
boundary  question. 

President  Taylor  offered  him  a  seat  in  his  Cabinet, 
but  he  declined — later  he  was  sent  to  England,  where  he 
became  a  distinguished  diplomat,  and  w^as  recalled  only 
at  his  own  request.  At  one  time  he  lacked  but  six  votes 
of  being  nominated  for  Vice-President. 

On  the  18th  of  August,  1855,  Abbott  Lavn-ence  died. 
Nearly  every  business  place  in  Boston  was  closed — in 
fact,  Boston  was  in  mourning ;  the  military  companies 
were  out  on  solemn  parade,  flags  were  placed  at  half- 
mast,  and  minute-guns  were  fired.  Thus  passed  away 
one  of  the  merchant  princes  of  New  England. 


Alexander  H,  Stephens, 


THIS  great  statesman  was  born  in  Georgia  on  Febru- 
ary 11,  1812,  and  was  left  an  orphan  at  an  early  age. 
He  studied  law  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1834, 
having  the  advantage  of  a  college  education.   He  entered 
upon  the  practice  of  law  at  Crawfordsville  in  his  native 
17 


FROM  OBSCURITY  TO  OREAT  HONOR.         273 

StatO;  and  his  natural  ability  and  splendid  education 
soon  won  for  him  a  most  lucrative  practice. 

Mr.  Stephens  early  became  a  convert  to  the  Calhoun 
school  of  politics,  and  he  remained  firmly  fixed  until 
death  in  the  belief  that  slavery  was  the  proper  sphere  in 
which  all  colored  people  should  move.  He  believed  it 
was  better  for  the  races  both  white  and  black. 

Though  physically  weak  he  was  wonderfully  devel- 
oped in  personal  courage.  In  1836  Mr.  Stephens  was 
elected  to  the  State  legislature,  to  which  he  succeeded 
five  successive  terms.  In  1842  he  was  elected  to  the 
State  senate,  there  to  remain  only  one  year  when  he  was 
sent  as  a  Whig  to  the  national  congress,  there  to  remain 
until  1859  w^hen,  July  2nd,  in  a  speech  at  Augusta  he  an- 
nounced his  intention  of  retiring  to  private  life.  When 
the  old  Whig  party  was  superceded  by  the  present  Ee- 
publican  party  Mr.  Stephens  joined  the  Democrats. 
During  the  presidential  canvass  of  1860  Mr.  Stephens 
supported  the  northern  wing  under  Douglass,  and  in  a 
speech  at  the  capitol  of  his  State  bitterly  denounced 
secession.  As  the  speech  so  well  illustrates  his  powers 
of  oratory,  so  far  as  words  can  portray  that  power,  we 
give  the  speech  as  follows : — 

This  step,  secession,  once  taken  can  never  be  recalled, 
and  all  the  baleful  and  withering  consequences  that  must 
follow,  as  you  will  see,  will  rest  on  this  convention  for 
all  coming  time.  When  we  and  our  posterity  shall  see 
our  lovely  South  desolated  by  the  demon  of  war  which 
this  a.ct  of  yours  will  inevitably  provoke,  when  our  green 
iields  and  waving  harvests  shall  be  trodden  down  hy  a 
m^^rderous  soldiery,  and  the  fiery  car  of  war  sweeps  over 
our  land,  our  temples  of  justice  laid  in  ashes  and  every 
horror  and  desolation  upon  us ;  who,  but  him  who  shall 


274  HIDDEN   TREASURES. 

have  given  his  vote  for  this  unwise  and  ill-timed  measure 
shall  be  held  to  a  strict  account  for  this  suicidal  act  by  the 
present  generation,  and  be  cursed  and  execrated  by  all 
posterity,  in  all  coming  time,  for  the  wide  and  desolat- 
ing ruin  that  will  inevitably  follow  this  act  you  now  pro- 
pose to  perpetrate  ? 

Pause,  I  entreat  you,  and  consider  for  a  moment  w^hat 
reasons  you  can  give  that  w^ill  satisfy  yourselves  in  calmer 
moments  ?  What  reasons  can  you  give  to  your  fellow- 
sufferers  in  the  calamity  that  it  will  bring  upon  us  ? 
What  reasons  can  you  give  to  the  nations  of  the  earth 
to  justify  it?  They  will  be  calm  and  deliberate  judges 
of  this  case,  and  to  w^hat  cause,  or  one  overt-act  can  you 
I)oint  on  which  to  rest  the  plea  of  justification  ?  What 
right  has  the  North  assailed  ?  Of  what  interest  has  the 
South  been  invaded?  What  justice  has  been  denied? 
And  what  claim  founded  in  justice  and  right  has  been 
unsatisfied  ?  Can  any  of  you  name  to-day  one  govern- 
mental act  of  wrong  deliberately  and  purposely  done  by 
the  government  at  Washington,  of  which  the  South  has 
a  right  to  complain  ?  I  challenge  an  answer. 

On  the  other  hand,  let  me  show  the  facts  (and  believe 
me,  gentlemen,  I  am  not  here  the  advocate  of  the  North, 
but  I  am  here  the  friend,  the  firm  friend  and  lover  of  the 
South  and  her  institutions,  and  for  this  reason  I  speak 
thus  plainly  and  faithfully  for  yours,  mine,  and  every 
other  man's  interest,  the  words  of  truth  and  soberness), 
of  which  I  wish  you  to  judge,  and  I  will  only  state  facts 
which  are  clear  and  undeniable,  and  which  now  stand  in 
the  authentic  records  of  the  history  of  our  country. 
When  we  of  the  South  demanded  the  slave  trade,  or  the 
importation  of  Africans  for  the  cultivation  of  our  lands, 
did  they  not  yield  the  right  for  twenty  years?    When  we 


FROM  OBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.         275 

asked  a  three-fifths  representation  in  Congress  for  our 
section  was  it  not  granted?  When  we  demanded  the 
return  of  any  fugitive  from  justice,  or  the  recovery  of 
those  iDcrsons  owing  labor  or  allegiance,  was  it  not  incor- 
porated in  the  Constitution,  and  again  ratified  and 
strengthened  in  the  fugitive  slave  law  of  1850?  Do  you 
reply  that  in  many  instances  they  have  violated  this  law 
and  have  not  been  faithful  to  their  engagements?  As 
individuals  and  local  committees  they  may  have  done  so, 
but  not  by  the  sanction  of  government,  for  that  has 
always  been  true  to  the  Southern  interests. 

Again,  look  at  another  fact.  When  we  asked  that 
more  territory  should  be  added  that  we  might  spread 
the  institution  of  slavery  did  they  not  yield  to  our  de- 
mands by  giving  us  Louisiana,  Florida  and  Texas  out  of 
which  four  States  have  been  carved,  and  ample  territory 
left  for  four  more  to  be  added  in  due  time,  if  you  do  not 
by  this  unwise  and  impolitic  act  destroy  this  hope,  and 
perhaps  by  it  lose  all  and  have  your  last  slave  wrenched 
from  you  by  stern  military  rule,  or  by  the  vindictative 
decrees  of  a  universal  emancipation  which  may  reason- 
ably be  expected  to  follow. 

But  again  gentlemen,  what  have  we  to  gain  by  this 
proposed  change  of  our  relation  to  the  general  govern- 
ment ?  We  ha\  e  always  had  the  control  of  it  and  can 
yet  have  if  we  remain  in  it  and  are  as  united  as  we  have 
been.  We  have  had  a  majority  of  the  presidents  chosen 
from  the  South  as  well  as  the  control  and  management 
of  most  of  those  chosen  from  the  North.  We  have  had 
sixty  years  of  Southern  presidents  to  their  twenty-four, 
thus  controlling  the  executive  department.  So  of  the 
judges  of  the  supreme  court,  we  have  had  eighteen  from 
the  South  and  but  eleven  from  the  North.    Although 


276  HIDDEN   TREASURES. 

nearly  four-fifths  of  the  judicial  business  has  arisen  in 
the  free  States,  yet  a  majority  of  the  coui*t  has  been  from 
the  South.  This  we  have  required  so  as  to  guard  against 
any  interpretation  of  the  constitution  unfavorable  to  us. 
In  like  manner  we  have  been  equally  watchful  in  the 
legislative  branch  of  the  government.  In  choosing  the 
IDresiding  officer,  protem,  of  the  Senate  we  have  had 
twenty-four  and  they  only  eleven;  speakers  of  the  house 
we  have  had  twenty-three  and  they  twelve.  While  the 
majority  of  the  representatives,  from  their  greater  popu- 
lation, have  always  been  from  the  North,  yet  we  have 
generally  secured  the  speaker  because  he  to  a  great  ex- 
tent shapes  and  controls  the  legislation  of  the  country, 
nor  have  we  had  less  control  in  every  other  department 
of  the  general  government. 

Attorney-Generals  we  have  had  14,  wdiile  the  North 
have  had  but  five.  Foreign  ministers  we  have  had  86,  and 
they  but  54.  While  three-fourths  of  the  business  which 
demands  diplomatic  agents  abroad  is  clearly  from  the 
free  States  because  of  their  greater  commercial  inter- 
ests, we  have,  nevertheless,  had  the  i^rincipal  embassies 
so  as  to  secure  the  world's  markets  for  our  cotton,  to- 
bacco and  sugar,  on  the  best  possible  terms.  We  have 
had  a  vast  majority  of  the  higher  officers  of  both  army 
and  navy,  while  a  larger  proportion  of  the  soldiers  and 
sailors  were  drawn  from  the  Northern  States.  Equally 
so  of  clerks,  auditors,  and  comptrollers,  filling  the  execu- 
tive department ;  the  records  show  for  the  last  50  years 
that  of  the  3,000  thus  employed  we  have  had  more  than 
two-thirds,  while  we  have  only  one-third  of  the  white 
population  of  the  Republic. 

Again,  look  at  another  fact,  and  one,  be  assured,  in 
which  we  have  a  great  and  vital  interest ;  it  is  that  of 


FROM  OBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.         277 

revenue  or  means  of  supporting  government.  From 
official  documents  we  learn  that  more  than  three-fourths 
of  the  revenue  collected  has  been  raised  from  the  North. 
Pause  now  while  you  have  the  opportunity  to  contem- 
plate carefully  and  candidly  these  important  things. 
Look  at  another  necessary  branch  of  government,  and 
learn  from  stern  statistical  facts  how  matters  stand  in 
that  department,  I  mean  the  mail  and  post-office  privi- 
leges that  we  now  enjoy  under  the  General  Government, 
as  it  has  been  for  years  past.  The  expense  for  the  trans- 
portation of  the  mail  in  the  free  States  was  by  the  report 
of  the  postmaster-general  for  1860,  a  little  over  $13,000,- 
000,000,  while  the  income  was  $19,000,000.  But  in  the 
Slave  States  the  transportation  of  the  mail  was  $14,716,- 
000,  and  the  revenue  from  the  mail  only  $8,000,265, 
leaving  a  deficit  of  $6,715,735  to  be  supplied  by  the 
North  for  our  accommodation,  and  without  which  we 
must  have  been  cut  off  from  this  most  essential  branch 
of  the  government. 

Leaving  out  of  view  for  the  present  the  countless 
millions  of  dollars  you  must  expend  in  a  war  with  the 
North,  with  tens  of  thousands  of  your  brothers  slain  in 
battle,  and  offered  up  as  sacrifices  on  the  altar  of  your 
ambition  —  for  what,  I  ask  again  ?  Is  it  for  the  over- 
throw of  the  American  Government,  established  by  our 
common  ancestry,  cemented  and  built  up  by  their  sweat 
and  blood,  and  founded  on  the  broad  principles  of  right, 
justice  and  humanity?  I  must  declare  to  you  here,  as  I 
have  often  done  before,  and  it  has  also  been  declared 
by  the  greatest  and  wisest  statesmen  and  patriots  of 
this  and  other  lands,  that  the  American  Government  is 
the  best  and  freest  of  all  governments,  the  most  equal 
in  its  rights,  the  most    just  in  its  decisions,  the  most 


278  HIDDEN   TREASURES. 

lenient  in  its  measures,  and  the  most  inspiring  in  its 
principles  to  elevate  the  race  of  men  that  the  sun  of  heaven 
ever  shone  upon. 

Now  for  you  to  attempt  to  overthrow  such  a  govern- 
ment as  this  under  which  we  have  lived  for  more  than 
three-quarters  of  a  century,  in  which  we  have  gained  our 
wealth,  our  standing  as  a  nation,  our  domestic  safety 
while  the  elements  of  peril  are  around  us  with  peace 
and  tranquility  accompanied  with  unbounded  prosperity 
and  rights  unassailed  is  the  height  of  madness,  folly  and 
wickedness  to  which  I  will  neither  lend  my  sanction  nor 
my  vote. 

This  is  one  of  the  most  eloquent  appeals  recorded  on 
the  pages  of  history,  and  had  Mr.  Stephens  carried  out 
his  first  intention  as  expressed,  ''I  will  neither  lend  my 
sanction  nor  my  vote,"  in  his  subsequent  career  during 
that  war  he  had  so  eloquentlj^  and  prophetically  depicted, 
he  would  to-day  not  only  be  recognized  as  one  of  the  ablest 
and  most  brilliant  of  orators  as  he  is  known,  but  would 
have  stamped  his  life  as  a  consistent  and  constant  legis- 
lator which  is  so  laudable  in  any  man.  But  only  a  month 
later,  after  delivering  the  great  speech  at  Milledgeville  in 
defense  of  the  Union  he  accepted  one  of  the  chief  offices 
in  the  Confederacy,  and  began  to  perpetrate  the  very 
wrongs  he  had  so  vehemently  deplored,  seeking  by 
speeches  innumera1)le  to  overthrow  that  government  he 
had  so  eloquently  eulogized. 

At  Savannah  he  spoke  something  as  follows:  ''The 
new  constitution  has  put  to  rest  forever  all  the  agitating 
questions  relating  to  our  peculiar  institutions — African 
slavery  as  it  exists  among  us — tlie  proper  status  of  the 
negro  in  our  form  of  civilization.  This  was  tlie  immedi- 
ate cause  of  the  late  rupture  and  the  present  revolution. 


FROM  OBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.         279 

Jefferson  in  his  forecast  had  anticipated  this  as  the  rock 
upon  which  the  old  Union  would  sf)lit.  The  prevailing 
ideas  entertained  by  him  and  most  of  the  leading  states- 
men at  the  time  of  the  formation  of  the  old  constitution, 
were  that  the  enslavement  of  the  African  was  in  viola- 
tion to  the  laws  of  nature;  that  it  was  wrong  in  princi- 
ple socially,  morally  and  politically. 

Our  new  government  is  founded  on  exactly  the  op- 
posite ideas.  Its  foundations  are  laid,  its  corner-stone 
rests  upon  the  great  truth  that  the  negro  is  not  equal  to 
the  white  man.  That  in  slavery,  subordination  to  the 
superior  race,  is  his  natural  and  normal  condition.  This, 
our  new  government,  is  the  first  in  the  history  of  the 
world  based  upon  this  great  physical,  philosophical  and 
moral  truth.  It  is  the  first  government  ever  instituted 
upon  principles  in  strict  conformity  to  nature  and  the 
ordination  of  Providence  in  furnishing  the  materials  of 
human  society.  Many  governments  have  been  founded 
upon  the  principle  of  enslaving  certain  classes,  but  the 
classes  thus  enslaved  were  of  the  same  race  and  enslaved 
in  violation  to  the  laws  of  nature. 

Our  system  commits  no  such  violation  of  the  laws  of 
nature.  The  negro,  by  nature  or  by  the  curse  against 
Canaan  is  fitted  for  that  condition  which  he  occupies  in 
our  system.  The  architect  in  the  construction  of  build- 
ings lays  the  foundation  with  the  proper  material,  the 
granite  ;  then  comes  the  brick  or  marble.  The  substra- 
tum of  our  society  is  made  of  the  material  fitted  hy 
nature  for  it,  and  by  expenence  we  know  that  it  is  best 
not  only  for  the  superior,  but  the  inferior  race  that  it 
should  be  so.  It  is,  indeed,  in  conformity  with  the  Crea- 
tor. It  is  not  for  us  to  inquire  into  the  wisdom  of  bis 
ordinances,  or  to  question  them.     For  his  own  purposes 


280  HIDDEN    TREASURES. 

he  bits  made  one  race  to  differ  from  another,  as  he  has 
made  one  star  to  differ  from  another  in  glory.  The  great 
objects  of  humanity  are  best  attained  when  conformed 
to  his  laws  and  decrees  in  the  formation  of  governments 
as  well  as  in  all  things  else.  Our  confederacy  is  founded 
upon  principles  in  strict  conformity  with  these  laws. 
This  stone  which  was  rejected  by  the  first  builders  ^is  be- 
come the  chief  stone  of  the  corner '  in  our  new  edifice. 

By  both  of  these  speeches  he  was  of  great  service  to 
the  national  government.  The  first  was  used  to  justify 
the  suppression  of  secession,  and  the  second  to  excite 
the  animosity  of  the  world  against  secession.  After  the 
war  Mr.  Stephens  was  once  more  a  member  of  the  Na- 
tional Congress  and  Governor  of  his  native  State.  On 
the  3rd  day  of  March,  1883,  he  died  at  his  home  in  Craw- 
fordville.  We  have  thus  spoken  of  Mr.  Stephens  as  a 
legislator ;  personally,  he  was  a  very  pleasant  man  to 
meet,  loved  in  society,  was  kind-hearted,  and  we  believe 
sincere.  His  eloquence  was  at  times  wonderful,  and  was 
augmented  rather  than  diminished  by  his  physical  in- 
firmity. Those  who  have  heard  him  will  never  forget 
the  squeaking  voice  and  haggard  look. 

According  to  Webster,  the  three  cardinal  points  essen- 
tial to  true  oratory  are  clearness,  force  and  sincerity. 
In  all  of  these  Stephens  was  proficient.  His  descriptive 
powers  were  remarkable,  and  he  could  blend  pathos  with 
argument  in  a  manner  unusual.  He  was  a  warm  friend 
of  Mr.  Lincoln,  and  one  of  the  most  characteristic  stories 
ever  told  of  Mr.  Lincoln  is  in  connection  with  Governor 
Stephens'  diminutive  appearance  and  great  care  for  his 
shattered  health.  On  one  occasion  before  the  war  ho 
took  off  three  overcoats,  one  after  the  other,  in  the 
presence  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  who  rose,  and  walking  around 


FROM  OBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.         281 

him,  said,  "I  was  afraid  of  Stephens,  for  I  thought  he 
might  keep  on  taking  off  clothes  until  he  would  be 
nothing  but  a  ghost  left,''  and  speaking  to  a  friend  stand- 
ing by,  remarked  further,  "Stephens  and  his  overcoats 
remind  me  of  the  biggest  shuck  off  the  smallest  ear  of 
corn  that  I  have  ever  seen  in  my  life."  One  by  one  the 
eminent  men  of  State  pass  away.  Their  deaths  make 
vacancies  which  the  ambitious  and  active  hasten  to 
occupy  whether  they  are  able  to  fill  them  or  not. 


Millard  Fillmore. 


GREAT,  indeed,  are  the  possibilities  of  our  country. 
The  subject  of  this  narrative,  thirteenth  president  of 
the  United  States,  was  born  in  Summer  Hill,  Cayuga 
county.  New  York,  January  7th,  1800.  The  nearest 
house  to  that  of  Fillmore  was  four  miles  distant.  Cayuga 
county  was  then  a  wilderness  with  few  settlers,  conse- 
quently young  Fillmore's  education  was  limited  to  in- 
struction in  reading,  writing,  spelling  and  the  simplest 
branches  of  arithmetic.  At  fourteen  he  was  bound  out 
to  learn  the  fuller's  trade. 

Think  of  it  boys,  what  splendid  opportunities  most 
of  you  have;  yes,  all  of  you  have,  compared  to  that  of 
Fillmore,  for  he  had  not  the  advantage  of  our  glorious 
and  complete  school  system,  and  at  that  was  bound  out 
when  a  mere  lad.    Yet  at  the  age  of  nineteen  he  pre- 


282  HIDDEN    TREASURES. 

sumed  to  aspire  to  become  a  lawyer !  He  had  two  more 
years  to  serve  in  his  apprenticeship,  but  ''Where  there's 
a  w^ill  there's  a  way."  ''To  think  a  thing  impossible  is  to 
make  it  so,"  and  he  accordingly  set  to  work  contriving 
to  gain  for  himself  an  education. 

Contracting  with  his  employer  to  pay  him  $80  for  his 
release,  that  obstacle  was  overcome.  He  next  made  an 
arrangement  with  a  retired  lawyer,  by  which  he  received 
his  board  for  services,  and  studied  nights.  This  con- 
tinued for  two  years,  when  he  set  out  on  foot  for  Buffalo 
where  he  arrived  with  just  $4  in  his  x)ocket.  Ah!  me- 
thinks  people  who  saw  that  boy  must  have  felt  that  he 
was  destined  to  be  somebody  in  the  world.  "  Neither 
do  men  light  a  candle  and  put  it  under  a  bushel  but  on 
a  candlestick;  and  it  giveth  light  unto  all  that  are  in 
the  house." 

How  often  are  we  so  deeply  impressed  by  reading  the 
biographies  of  great  men  that  it  realh^  does  in  a  great 
measure  rest  with  ourselves  whether  we  amount  to  some- 
thing, or  worse  than  nothing,  in  the  world.  We  have 
followed  this  man  from  childhood  and  have  seen  him 
overcome  all  obstacles  thus  far;  will  we  then  be  sur- 
prised when  we  read  that  no  sooner  did  he  arrive  in 
Buffalo  than  he  succeeded  in  making  arrangements  with 
a  resident  lawyer,  obtaing  permission  to  study  in  his 
office  and  supported  himself  by  severe  drudgery,  teach- 
ing and  assisting  the  post  master. 

By  the  spring  of  1823  he  had  so  far  gained  the  confi- 
dence of  the  bar  that  by  the  intercession  of  several  of  its 
leading  meml)ers  he  was  admitted  as  an  attorney  l)y  the 
Court  of  Common  Pleas  of  Erie  county,  although  he  had 
not  completed  the  period  of  study  usually  required,  and 
commenced  practice  at  Aurora  where  his  father  resided. 


FROM  OBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.         283 

In  the  course  of  a  few  years  he  acquired  not  only  a 
large  practice  but  a  thorough  mastery  of  the  principles 
of  the  common  law,  and  he  rose  to  a  place  among  the 
first  lawyers  of  his  State.  In  1827  he  w^as  admitted  as 
counselor  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  State.  In  1830 
he  moved  to  Buffalo  where  he  continued  in  the  iDractice 
of  law  until  1847,  when  he  was  elected  Comptroller  of 
the  great  Empire  State. 

He  had  previously  been  in  the  State  legislature  and 
in  the  national  congress.  In  congress  he  rose  gradually 
to  the  first  rank  for  integrity,  industry  and  practical 
ability.  As  a  State  legislator  he  particularly  distinguihed 
himself  by  his  advocacy  of  the  act  to  abolish  imprison- 
ment for  debt,  which  was  drafted  by  him,  and  which 
]Dassed  in  1831.  In  congress  he  supported  John  Quincy 
Adams  in  his  assertion  of  the  right  of  petition  on  the 
subject  of  slavery.  He  opposed  the  annexation  of 
Texas,  because  it  extended  slave  domain  and  advocated 
the  immediate  abolition  of  the  inter-state  slave  trade. 

At  the  death  of  President  Taylor,  Mr.  Fillmore,  ac- 
cording to  the  provisions  of  the  Constitution  in  such 
cases,  became  President  of  the  United  States,  and  the 
IDOor  boy  wdio  had  entered  Buffalo  on  foot  now  entered 
the  National  Capitol  as  the  ruler  of  a  mighty  nation. 
During  his  administration  a  treaty  with  Japan,  securing 
for  the  United  States  valuable  commercial  privileges, 
was  consummated.  His  administration,  as  a  whole,  was 
a  successful  one,  and  had  he  not  signed  the  fugitive  slave 
law,  he  would,  undoubtedly,  have  been  the  nominee  of 
his  party  at  the  convention  in  1852. 

In  1854  he  made  an  extensive  tour  in  the  Southern 
and  Western  States,  and  in  the  Spring  of  1855,  after  an 
excursion  through  New  England,  he  sailed  for  Europe. 


284  HIDDEN    TREASURES. 

While  in  Rome  he  received  information  that  he  had 
been  nominated  by  the  Native  American  party  in  his 
native  country  for  the  office  of  President.  He  accepted, 
but  Maryland  alone  gave  him  her  electoral  vote;  how- 
ever, he  received  a  large  popular  vote.  In  1874,  March 
the  8th,  he  died  in  Buffalo,  where  he  had  resided  many 
years  in  private  life. 


William  H,  Seward, 


A  TRULY  eminenent  American  statesman,  William 
H.  Seward,  was  born  in  Florida,  Orange  county, 
New  York,  May  16th,  1801. 

He  graduated  with  much  distinction  when  only  nine- 
teen at  Union  College, Schenectady,  New  York,  then 
taught  school  in  Georgia  six  months  when  he  entered  a 
New  York  law  school,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in 
1822;  commenced  the  practice  of  law  at  Auburn  in  con- 
nection with  Judge  Miller,  whose  daughter  he  afterward 
married. 

In  1824  he  entered  upon  his  political  career  by  pre- 
paring an  address  for  a  Republican  convention  in  opposi- 
tion to  the  Democratic  clique  known  as  the  ^Albany 
Regency,'  thus  commenced  a  contention  which  only 
ended  when  the  association  was  broken  up  in  1838.  He 
presided  over  a  young  men's  convention  in  New  York 
in  favor  of  John  Quincy  Adams'  re-election  to  the  presi- 


FKOM  OBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.         285 

dency.  In  August,  1828,  on  his  return  home  he  was 
offered  a  nomination  as  member  of  Congress  but  de- 
clined. He  was  elected  to  the  State  senate  in  18^50,  when 
be  originated  an  opposition  to  corporate  monopolies 
9^hich  has  since  ripened  into  a  system  of  general  laws. 
A-fter  a  rapid  tour  through  Europe  in  1833  he  returned 
home  to  become  the  Whig  candidate  for  governor  of 
NcAV  York,  being  defeated  by  W.  L.  Marcy.  But  in  1838 
he  was  elected  over  Marcy,  his  former  opponent,  by  a 
majority  of  10,000  votes. 

Placed  now  in  a  position  where  he  could  exercise  that 
mighty  mind  which  he  unmistakably  possessed,  he 
achieved  National  distinction  in  the  measures  he  prose- 
cuted. Prominent  among  these  measures  was  the  effort 
to  secure  the  diffusion  of  common  school  education,  ad- 
vocating an  equal  distribution  of  the  public  funds  among 
all  schools  for  that  iDurpose.  Imprisonment  for  debt  was 
abolished,  the  banking  system  was  improved,  the  first 
hmatic  asylum  was  established,  and  every  vestige  of 
Bla.very  was  cleared  from  the  statute  books. 

He  also  became  famous  through  his  controversy  with 
the  Governor  of  Virginia.  The  latter  issued  a  demand 
on  Mr.  Seward,  as  the  Governor  of  New  York,  for  the 
delivery  of  two  men  charged  with  abducting  slaves. 
Seward  maintained  that  no  State  could  force  a  requisi- 
tion upon  another  State,  founded  on  an  act  which  was 
only  criminal  by  its  own  legislation,  and  which  com- 
pared with  general  standards  was  not  only  innocent, 
but  humane  and  praiseworthy.  This  .correspondence 
between  the  t?*ro  executives  known  as  '^The  Virginia 
Controversy"  was  widely  published,  and  was  largely  in- 
strumental in  bringing  about  his  triumphant  re-election 
in  1840, 


286  HIDDEN   TREASURES. 

At  the  close  of  his  second  term  he  once  more  resumed 
the  practice  of  law,  becoming  a  practitioner  in  the  United 
States  Courts.  He  was  also  a  great  criminal  lawyer,  and 
especially  aided,  not  only  by  gratuitous  service,  but 
money  also,  in  aiding  people  wdiorn  he  thought  unjustly 
accused.  Becoming  a  United  States  Senator,  he  an- 
nounced his  purpose  to  make  no  further  concessions  to 
the  slave  power.  In  his  speech  on  the  admission  of  Cali- 
fornia, March  11th,  1850,  the  judgment  of  the  man,  his 
ability  to  fore-cast  events,  and  his  oratorical  powers  are 
displayed.    Among  other  things  he  said  : 

"It  is  true,  indeed,"  that  the  national  domain  is  ours. 
It  is  true,  it  is  acquired  by  the  valor,  and  with  the  wealth 
of  the  whole  nation.  But  w^e  hold,  nevertheless,  no 
arbitrary  power  over  it.  We  hold  no  arbitrary  author- 
ity over  anything,  whether  acquired  lawfully,  or  seized 
by  usurpation.  The  Constitution  regulates  our  steward- 
ship ;  the  Constitution  devotes  the  domain  to  union,  to 
justice,  to  defence,  to  welfare,  and  to  liberty. 

But  there  is  a  higher  law  than  the  Constitution,  which 
regulates  our  authority  over  the  domain,  and  devotes  it 
to  the  same  noble  purposes.  The  territory  is  a  part,  no 
considerable  part,  of  the  common  heritage  of  mankind, 
bestowed  upon  them  by  the  Creator  of  the  universe. 
We  are  his  stewards,  and  must  so  discharge  our  trust  as 
to  secure  in  the  highest  attainable  degree  their  happi- 
ness." In  another  speech,  delivered  at  Rochester  in  1858, 
in  alluding  to  the  constant  collision  betw^een  the  system, 
of  free  and  slave  labor  in  the  United  States,  he  said : 
"It  is  an  irrepressible  conflict  between  opposing 
forces,  and  it  means  that  the  United  States  must  and 
will,  sooner  or  later,  become  either  entirely  a  slave- 
holding  nation,  or  entirely  a  free  labor  nation."     Thus, 


FROM  OBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.         287 

while  others  dodged  this  issue,  William  H.  Seward  came 
squarely  out  in  language  which  could  not  be  misinter- 
preted. When  the  Whig  party  had  proved  its  incompe- 
tency to  deal  with  the  slavery  question,  Mr.  Seward,  in 
conformity  with  his  past  public  career,  withdrew  and 
figured  most  conspicuously  in  the  founding  of  the  new 
Eepublican  party. 

In  the  last  session  of  the  36th  Congress,  when  the 
war  clouds  were  threatening,  and  desei-tion  of  the  Union 
cause  became  an  epidemic,  high  above  the  breathings  of 
secession  was  heard  the  voice  of  William  H.  Seward, 
exclaiming :  "I  avov\^  my  adherence  to  the  Union  with 
my  friends,  with  my  party,  with  my  State ;  or  without 
either,  as  they  may  determine,  in  every  event  of  peace 
or  war,  with  every  consequence  of  honor  or  dishonor,  of 
life  or  death."  In  conclusion  he  declared :  "  I  certainly 
shall  never  directly  or  indirectly  give  my\ote  to  estab- 
lish or  sanction  slavery  in  the  common  territories  of  the 
United  States,  or  anywhere  else  in  the  world." 

His  second  term  closed  with  the  thirty-sixth  congress, 
March  4i^h,  1861.  In  the  National  Republican  convention 
he  was  the  most  conspicuous  candidate  for  the  presi- 
dency for  1856-60.  He  made  quite  an  extended  tour 
through  Europe,  Egypt  and  the  Holy  Land  in  1859. 
Upon  the  accession  of  Mr.  Lincoln  to  the  presidency  Mr. 
Seward  was  called  to  fill  the  seat  of  honor  in  his  cabinet. 

At  the  outbreak  of  the  civil  war  Mr.  Seward  had 
already  shown  himself  a  very  able  man,  but  his  manage- 
ment of  the  foreign  affairs  of  our  government  during 
those  trying  hours  indelibly  stamped  him  as  the  most 
able,  of  able  Secretaries  of  State.  He  was  one  of  the  few 
men  who  have  been  conceded  to  be  a  great  success  in 
the  office  of  Secretary  of  State,     His  management  of 


2SS  HIDDEN    TREASUKEJS. 

the  complicated  Trent  affair,  the  manner  of  his  declina- 
tion of  tiie  French  proposal  to  unite  with  Great  Britain 
and  Russia  in  mediating  between  the  Federal  and  Con- 
federate governments,  and  his  thorough  re-organization 
of  the  diplomatic  service  abroad,  thus  insuring  a  correct 
interpretation  by  foreign  powers  of  the  issues  before  the 
government;  in  fact  his  management  of  the  high  oiiice 
did  him  gr^at  credit,  and  more  than  once  averted  a 
foreign  w^ar. 

When  Mr.  Lincoln  had  drafted  his  famous  proclama- 
tion he  submitted  it  to  Seward  for  approval.  Many 
people  at  the  North  were  dissatisfied  wdth  some  measures 
of  the  administration,  and  the  rebellion  had  been  char- 
acterized as  a  ^'Nigger  war,"  even  at  the  North,  besides 
all  this  the  Union  arms  had  met  with  terrible  loss,  and 
Mr.  Seward  wisely  saw  the  evil  results  which  might  fol- 
low such  a  proclamation  at  this  time.  Therefore, 
through  his  advice  the  paper  was  held  until  after  the 
victory  at  Antietam,  when  the  country  w^as  further  edu- 
cated and  better  able  to  understand  and  receive  the  real 
issue  of  the  war. 

Early  in  the  spring  of  1865  he  was  thrown  from  his 
carriage,  and  his  jaw  and  one  arm  w^ere  broken.  While 
confined  to  his  bed  by  these  injuries  he  was  attacked  by 
a  would-be  assassin,  and  very  severely  wounded,  being 
cut  several  times  with  a  knife — his  sun  Frederick  W, 
came  to  his  rescue  and  was  also  injured.  It  was  on  the 
same  night  that  President  Lincoln  was  shot,  April  14. 
The  assassin  escaped  from  the  house,  but  was  soon  ar- 
rested and  hanged  with  the  other  conspirators,  July  7. 

Mr.  Seward's  recovery  was  very  *lovv  and  painful,  and 
it  is  thought  the  shock  given  by  the  accident,  and  this 
murderous  attack  impaired  his  intellectual  force,  for 
18 


FROM  OBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.         289 

when  he  again  resumed  his  duties  under  President  John- 
son, he  supported  the  President's  reconstruction  policy, 
becoming  at  dissonance  with  the  party  he  had  so  satis- 
factorily served,  until  now.  At  the  close  of  his  official 
term  in  March,  1867,  he  retired  from  public  life,  and  soon 
made  an  extended  tour  through  California,  Oregon  and 
Alaska ;  the  latter  having  been  acquired  during  his  sec- 
retaryship, and  mainly  through  his  efforts. 

Accompanied  by  his  family  he  made  a  tour  around 
the  world,  returning  to  Auburn  in  October,  1871.  He 
was  every  where  received  with  honor  and  great  distinction. 
The  observations  made  during  this  extensive  voyage  are 
embodied  in  "Wm.  H.  Seward's  Travels  around  the 
World,"  prepared  by  his  adopted  daughter,  Olive  Risley 
Seward.  He  died  at  Auburn,  New  York,  October  10th, 
1872,  lamented  by  a  nation. 


Horatio  Seymour, 


ONE  whose  name  and  deeds  are  familiar  to  the  people 
of  the  whole  Union  was  Horatio  Seymour,  the  most 
eminent  and  notable  of  the  later  Governors  of  New 
York.  Born  May  31st,  1810,  at  Pompey,  Onondaga 
county.  New  York ;  a  hamlet  in  what  was  then  almost  a 
wilderness. 

When  he  was  nine  years  of  age  his  parents  moved  to 
TJtica.    His  school  education  was  obtained  at  the  acade- 


290  HIDDEN   TREASURES. 

mies  of  Oxford  and  Geneva,  New  York,  and  Partridge's 
military  school,  Middletown,  Connecticut.  He  studied 
the  science  of  law,  and  fitted  himself  for  the  profession, 
being  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1832,  but  the  death  of  his 
father  devolved  upon  him  the  settlement  of  a  large 
estate.  This  withdrew  him  from  his  intended  calling, 
but  enabled  him  to  give  ample  time  and  attention  to 
reading,  for  he  had  an  intense  thirst  for  knowledge. 

His  public  life  began  with  his  appointment  as  mili- 
tary secretary  to  Governor  Marcy.  Martin  Van  Buren 
is  said  to  have  seen  with  his  keen  eye  the  valuable  quali- 
ties in  the  young  man,  and  the  appointment  was  made 
at  his  instance.  Seymour  held  this  place  through  Marcy's 
three  terms,  1833-39,  and  being  very  young,  he  became 
enamored  with  public  life.  In  1841  he  was  elected  to 
the  State  Assembly  as  a  Democrat,  was  re-elected  three 
times,  and  in  1845  was  chosen  speaker,  which  office  he 
filled  with  dignity  and  courtesy  toward  all.  In  1842, 
while  in  the  assembly,  he  was  elected  Mayor  of  Utica 
for  one  year,  and  was  especially  interested  in  all  public 
matters  pertaining  to  the  welfare  of  that  city. 

In  1850  Mr.  Sevmour  was  an  unsuccessful  candi- 
date  for  governor  of  his  native  State,  being  defeated 
by  his  personal  friend,  Washington  Hurt,  by  a 
plurality  of  only  262  votes.  Considering  the  hopeless 
condition  of  the  Democratic  party  at  that  time,  and  his 
majority  of  20,000  over  the  same  competitor  two  years 
later,  we  can  imagine  something  of  his  popularity  at 
this  early  period.  His  first  term  as  the  executive  of 
New  York  was  marked  by  his  veto  of  the  prohibitory 
law  which  had  been  passed  by  the  legislature,  but  his 
action  in  regard  to  the  speedy  completion  of  all  public 
works  then  in  progress  and  the  interest  he  manifested 


FROM  OBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.         291 

In  the  diffusion  of  public  education  was  very  exemplary. 
However,  in  the  ensuing  election  he  was  defeated  by  a 
plurality,  this  time,  of  only  309  votes.  In  1862  Mr.  Sey- 
mour was  again  elected  governor  over  Wadsworth  by 
nearly  11,000  majority. 

The  breaking  out  of  the  civil  war  found  Mr.  Seymour 
allied  to  that  element  of  the  Democratic  party  which 
made  its  views  formally  known  at  what  has  passed  into 
history  as  the  '^  Tweedle  Hall "  meeting.  He  was  one  of 
the  principal  speakers  at  this  memorable  peace  conven- 
tion and  employed  his  eloquence  in  behalf  of  concession 
and  conciliation,  and  pointedly  inquired:  '^Shall  we 
compromise  after  war  or  without  war  ? "  His  position 
was  analogous  with  many  of  the  great  men  in  both 
parties  at  this  time.  When  hostilities  had  really  begun 
his  tone  changed,  and  in  his  inaugural  address,  January 
1st,  1863,  his  position  was  clearly  defined  as  follows : 
"Under  no  circumstances  can  the  division  of  the  Union 
be  conceded.  We  will  put  forth  every  exertion'of  power; 
we  will  use  every  policy  of  conciliation;  we  will  guaran- 
tee them  every  right,  every  consideration  demanded  by 
the  constitution  and  by  that  fraternal  regard  which 
must  prevail  in  a  common  country;  but  we  can  never 
voluntarily  consent  to  the  breaking  up  of  the  union  of 
these  States  or  the  destruction  of  the  constitution.'^ 

President  Lincoln  telegraphed  Mr.  Seymour  asking 
if  he  could  raise  and  forward  forthwith  20,000  troops  to 
assist  in  repelling  the  threatened  invasion  by  Lee,  of 
Maryland  and  Pennsylvania.  Within  three  days  12,000 
soldiers  were  on  their  way  to  Gettysburg.  The  draft  riots 
next  occupied  his  attention.  The  National  government 
passed  a  conscription  act,  March  3rd,  enrolling  all  able- 
bodied  citizens,  between  twenty  and  forty-five  years  of 


292  HIDDEN   TREASURES. 

age,  and  in  May  the  President  ordered  a  draft  of  three 
hundred  thousand  men.  The  project  was  exceedingly- 
unpopular,  and  was  bitterly  denounced  on  every  hand, 
says  Barnes.  The  anti-slavery  measure  of  the  adminis- 
tration had  already  occupied  wide-spread  hostility  to  the 

war. 

While  Pickett's  noble  southern  troops  were  assault- 
ing Cemetery  Ridge  at  Gettysburg,  inflammatory^handbills 
were  being  circulated  in  New  York  city,  which  brought 
on  a  riot  July  13th.  The  mob  rose  in  arms,  sacked 
houses,  demolished  the  offices  of  the  provost-marshal, 
burned  the  colored  orphan  asylum,  attacked  the  police, 
and  chased  negroes;  even  women  and  children,  wherever 
found,  were  chased,  and  if  caught  hung  to  the  nearest 
lamp-post.  Two  millions  of  dollars'  worth  of  property 
was  destroyed.  The  Governor  immediately  went  to  New 
York,  and  on  the  14th  he  issued  two  proclamations ;  one 
calling  on  the  rioters  to  disperse ;  the  other  declaring  the 
city  in  a  state  of  insurrection.  He  divided  the  city  into 
districts,  which  were  placed  under  the  control  of  military 
men,  who  were  directed  to  organize  the  citizens ;  and 
3,000  stands  of  arms  were  issued  to  these  and  other  or- 
ganizations. Boats  were  chartered  to  convey  policemen 
and  soldiers  to  any  point  on  the  shores  of  the  island 
where  disturbances  were  threatened.  The  Governor 
visited  all  the  riotous  districts  in  person,  and  by  persua- 
sion, as  well  as  by  the  use  of  the  force  at  his  command, 
aided  in  quelling  the  disturbance. 

During  his  term  Governor  Seymour  commissioned  more 
than  13,000  officers  in  the  volunteer  service  of  the  United 
States.  In  August  1864  he  presided  over  the  Democratic 
National  Convention  at  Chicago  which  nominated  Gen- 
eral McClellan  for  the  presidency.    Four  years  later^ 


FROM  OBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.         293 

much  against  his  will,  he  was  nominated  for  the  presi- 
dency himself  and  was  defeated  by  General  Grant,  as 
any  nominee  of  the  Democratic  party  at  that  time  would 
have  been.  He  then  retired  to  private  life,  dwelling  in 
elegant  repose  at  his  pleasant  home  near  Utica,  New 
York,  until  his  death  which  occurred  February  12th,  1886. 
His  occasional  addresses  were  charming  to  the  hearer, 
and  no  man  could  deliver  a  more  edifying  speech  at  any 
celebration.  He  was  an  ardent  lover  of  American  his- 
tory, particularly  the  history  of  his  native  State,  and  on 
all  State  topics  he  discoursed  with  learning  and  a  charm 
peculiarly  original.  Notwithstanding  the  high  position 
held  by  Mr.  Seymour  among  the  great  men  of  his  time 
his  funeral  was  very  simple.  Rev.  Dr.  A.  B.  Goodrich 
offered  a  prayer  at  the  residence  of  ex-Senator  Roscoe 
Conkling,  his  brother-in-law,  after  which  the  regular 
services  were  conducted  at  the  old  Trinity  Church. 
After  the  services  the  body  was  borne  to  Forest  Hill 
Cemetery  and  placed  in  the  Chapel  of  Roses. 


WiNFiELD  S,  Hancock, 


A  LARGE  man,  finely  proportioned  with  a  most  grace- 
ful carriage,  and  self-poise,  and  withal  handsome, 
thus  had  nature  endowed  Winfield  Scott  Hancock,  who 
was  born  in  the  county  of  Montgomery,  Pennsylvania, 
February  14,  1824. 


294  HIDDEN    TREASURES. 

In  1844  he  graduated  from  West  Point  with  honor, 
and  served  with  distinction  in  the  war  with  Mexico, 
where  he  was  commissioned  lieutenant.  Until  the 
breaking  out  of  the  civil  war  he  was  stationed  with  his 
division  in  various  parts  of  the  country.  Being  re-called 
to  Washington,  he  was  commissioned  a  brigadier-general 
of  volunteers,  and  served  with  great  valor  during  the 
Peninsula  campaign.  For  this  and  other  meritorious 
conduct  he  was  made  a  major-general,  and  commanded 
a  division  at  the  great  battles  of  Fredericksburg  and 
Chancellorsville. 

But  in  the  great  and  decisive  battle  of  Gettysburg 
Hancock  won  his  greatest  laurels.  General  Meade,  his 
commander,  sent  him  to  the  field  of  Gettysburg  to  decide 
if  battle  should  be  given  there,  or  if  the  army  should 
fall  back  to  another  position.  Hancock  reported  that 
Gettysburg  was  the  proper  place,  and  thus  the  little  ham- 
let became  famous  in  history ;  two  days  of  terrific  fight- 
ing passed ;  the  afternoon  of  the  third  day  arrives  and 
the  final  charge  is  made  upon  the  division  commanded 
by  Hancock. 

About  one  o'clock  one  hundred  and  fifty-five  guns 
suddenly  opened  on  that  one  division.  For  two  hours 
the  air  was  fairly  alive  with  shells.  Every  size  and 
form  of  shell  known  to  British  or  American  gunnery 
shrieked,  whirled,  moaned,  whistled  and  wrathf  ully  flut- 
tered over  the  ground,  says  Wilkinson.  '^As  many  as 
six  in  a  second,  constantly  two  in  a  second  came  scream- 
ing around  the  headquarters.  They  burst  in  the  yard; 
burst  next  to  the  fence  where  the  horses  belonging  to 
the  aids  and  orderlies  were  hitched.  The  fastened 
animals  reared  and  plunged  with  terror.  One  horse  fell, 
then  another;    sixteen  lay  dead  before  the  cannonade 


FROM  OBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.         295 

ceased.  Through  the  midst  of  the  storm  of  screaming 
and  exploding  shells  an  ambulance  driven  at  full  speed 
by  its  frenzied  conductor  presented  the  marvelous  specta- 
cle of  a  horse  going  rapidly  on  three  legs,  a  hind  one 
had  been  shot  off  at  the  hock.  A  shell  tore  up  the  little 
step  at  the  headquarters  cottage  and  ripped  bags  of  oats 
as  with  a  knife.  Another  shell  soon  carried  off  one  of 
its  two  pillars.  Soon  a  spherical  case  burst  opposite  the 
open  door,  another  tore  through  the  low  garret,  the  re- 
maining pillar  went  almost  immediately  to  the  howl  of 
a  fixed  shot  that  Whitworth  must  have  made.  Soldiers 
in  I'ederal  blue  were  torn  to  pieces  in  the  road  and  died 
with  the  peculiar  yell  that  blends  the  extorted  cry  of 
pain  with  horror  and  despair." 

"The  Union  guns,"  says  Barnes,  "replied  for  a  time, 
and  were  then  withdrawn  to  cool."  Probably  the  expe- 
rience of  the  veteran  troops  knew  that  they  would  soon 
be  needed  for  closer  work.  The  men  lay  crouching 
behind  rocks  and  hiding  in  hollows,  from  the  iron  tempest 
which  drove  over  the  hill,  anxiously  awaiting  the  charge, 
which  experience  taught  them,  must  follow.  Finally  the 
cannonade  lulled,  the  supreme  minute  had  come,  and  out 
of  the  woods  swept  the  Confederate  double  battle-line, 
over  a  mile  long,  preceded  by  a  cloud  of  skirmishers,  and 
with  wings  on  either  side  to  prevent  its  being  flanked. 
This  was  Lee's  first  charge,  and  upon  it  depended,  as 
subsequently  seen,  the  rise  or  fall  of  the  Confederate 
cause. 

A  quarter  of  a  mile  away,  and  a  hundred  guns  tore 
great  gaps  in  the  line,  but  the  men  closed  up  and  sternly 
moved  on.  A  thrill  of  admiration  ran  along  the  Union 
ranks  as  silently  and  with  disciplined  steadiness,  that 
magnificent  column  of  eighteen  thousand  men  moved 


296  HIDDEN   TREASURES. 

up  the  slope,  with  its  red  battle-flags  flying,  and  the  sun 
playing  on  its  burnished  bayonets.  On  they  came  on 
the  run.  Infantry  volleys  struck  their  ranks.  Their 
ranks  were  broken,  and  their  supports  were  scattered  to 
the  winds.  Pickett's  veterans  and  A.  P.  Hill's  best  troops 
went  down.  Out  of  that  magnificent  column  of  men, 
only  one-fourth  returned  to  tell  the  story.  Three  gen- 
erals, fourteen  field  ofiicers,  and  fourteen  thousand  men 
were  either  slain  or  captured.  This  was  the  supreme 
moment  of  the  war;  from  that  hour  the  Confederate 
cause  waned  and  slowly  died. 

All  honor  to  Hancock,  the  hero  of  Gettysburg,  who 
was  borne  bleeding  from  the  field,  not  to  resume  active 
service  until  March,  1864,  when  he  took  a  leading  part  in 
the  battles  of  the  Wilderness,  Spottsylvania  Court-House, 
North  Anna,  the  second  battle  of  Cold  Harbor,  and  in 
the  operations  around  Petersburg.  After  the  war  was 
over  he  was  placed  in  command  of  the  Middle  Depart- 
ment, the  Department  of  Missouri,  of  Louisiana  and 
Texas,  of  Dakota,  and  on  the  death  of  General  Meade, 
promoted  to  command  the  Department  of  the  East, 
which  position  he  held  at  his  death. 

In  1868  he  was  a  very  prominent  candidate  for  the 
Democratic  nomination,  receiving  114^  votes,  but  after 
an  exciting  contest,  Horatio  Seymour  was  nominated  on 
the  22nd  ballot.  The  next  year  he  was  tendered  the 
Democratic  nomination  for  Governor  of  his  native  State, 
but  respectfully  declined. 

In  1880  he  accepted  the  nomination  from  the  same 
party  for  the  highest  honor  within  the  gift  of  the  party, 
but  in  the  subsequent  election  was  defeated  by  James 
A.  Garfield,  the  Republican  nominee.  His  last  conspicu- 
ous appearance  in  public  was  at  the  funeral  services  of 


FROM  OBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.         297 

General  Grant,  where  ne  acted  as  marsnal  of  ceremonies. 
Scarcely  six  months  were  passed  when  we  were  startled 
with  the  news  :  Hancock  is  dead,  and  on  February  13th, 
1886,  with  military  honors,  but  no  elaborate  display,  he 
was  laid  at  rest  beside  his  father  and  beloved  daughter. 
No  long  line  of  troops,  no  sound  of  dirges,  no  trappings 
of  woe,  marked  the  funeral  of  General  Hancock.  The 
man  who  had  received  the  nomination  of  a  great  party 
for  the  highest  honor  in  the  nation's  gift,  who  had  turned 
the  fortunes  of  many  a  battle,  and  whose  calm  courage 
in  the  midst  of  death  had  so  often  inspired  the  faltering 
regiments,  was  laid  at  rest  quietly,  without  pomp  or 
vain  show,  at  Norristown,  Pennsylvania. 


George  B.  McClellan, 


ON  the  3rd  of  December,  1826,  was  bom  in  Philadel- 
phia, a  child  who  would  one  day  become  celebrated 
in  the  annals  of  history. 

He  enjoyed  the  privilege  of  a  good  education,  gradu- 
ating at  the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  and  when 
twenty  years  old  he  also  graduated  at  West  Point,  rank- 
ing second  in  his  class. 

George  B.  McClellan  was  a  brilliant  scholar,  and 
during  the  Mexican  war  won  high  esteem  as  an  engi- 
neer. After  the  war  he  was  engaged  in  various  engineer- 
ing projects,  and  rendered  valuable  service  to  the  coun- 
try by  introducing  bayonet  exercises  into  the  military 


298  HIDDEN    TREASURES. 

tactics  at  West  Point,  and  translating  a  French  Manual 
of  Bayonet  Exercises,  which  was  adapted  to  the  United 
States  service,  and  became  an  authority.  In  1855-'6  he 
was  a  member  of  the  Military  Commission  sent  by  the 
government  to  visit  the  seat  of  the  Crimean  war. 

He  resigned  his  commission  in  the  regular  army  in 
1857  ;  became  chief  engineer  of  the  Illinois  Central  Rail- 
road, and  in  1868  he  also  became  Vice-President  of  the 
road ;  two  years  later.  President  of  St.  Louis  and  Cin- 
cinnati Railway.  It  is  difficult  to  surmise  what  he  mght 
have  become  as  a  railway  magnate  but  for  the  civil  war. 

At  the  outbreak  of  hostilities  he  became  the  major- 
general  of  Ohio  volunteers,  and  by  skillful  generalship 
and  bravery,  succeeded  in  driving  the  rebels  out  of  West 
Virginia,  which  made  him  commander-in-chief  of  the 
Army  of  the  Potomac.  General  McClellan  was  over- 
cautious, and  lingered  about  Washington  with  about 
200,000  men,  drilling  and  preparing  for  the  battle.  Suc- 
cumbing to  popular  clamor  he  moved  out  toward 
Richmond. 

Then  followed  the  Peninsula  campaign,  wherein 
McClellan  was  forced  to  change  his  base,  accomplishing 
one  of  the  most  masterly  retreats  in  the  annals  of  his- 
tory. Being  relieved  of  the  command  by  Pope,  who 
also  failed,  he  was  re-instated  and  fought  the  bloody 
battle  of  Antietam.  In  this  battle  he  foiled  the  Confed- 
erate project  of  invasion,  but  popular  clamor  demanded 
his  removal,  as  it  was  thought  he  followed  up  his  victory 
too  leisurely.  This  virtually  ended  his  military  services, 
and  on  November  8th,  1864,  he  resigned  his  commission. 
After  his  unsuccessful  canvass  for  the  presidency  he, 
with  his  family,  sailed  for  Europe,  where  he  remamed 
until  1868.  wnen  he  returned  to  the  L'nited  States  and 


FROM  OBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.         299 

took  up  his  residence  at  Orange,  New  Jersey.  Hence- 
forth he  followed  his  profession  as  an  engineer. 

In  1877  he  was  elected  Governor  of  New  Jersey.  On 
October  29th,  1885,  he  died  at  his  residence  in  New  York 
city  from  the  effects  of  heart  disease. 

We  do  not  propose  to  pose  as  a  champion  of  McClel- 
lan's  wrongs,  real  or  supposed,  but  in  reviewing  his  life 
the  following  facts  are  worthy  of  thought :  He  was  in 
command  at  a  time  when  the  whole  North  were  laboring 
under  a  delusion  as  to  the  requirements  of  the  war,  and 
it  is  doubtful  if  any  general  would  have  succeeded  at 
this  time.  The  fact  that  such  an  able  general  as  Hooker 
was  relieved  after  one  reverse,  leads  one  to  wonder  what 
might  have  been  the  fate  of  even  Grant  had  he  com- 
manded at  this  time.  However,  it  is  not  for  us  to  say, 
but  certain  it  is,  that  no  greater  military  tactician  was 
to  be  found  among  the  generals  of  our  late  war,  and  as 
such  he  deserves  credit. 


Ulysses  Simpson  Grant. 


WHEN  a  man  is  energetic  and  determines  to  be 
somebody  in  the  world — which  is  praiseworthy  so 
long  as  that  energy  is  guided  by  propriety  and  a  just 
conception  of  right — there  are  always  scores,  hundreds, 
perhaps  thousands  of  people  who  endeavor  to  depreciate 
that  man's  reward. 


300  HIDDEN   TREASURES. 

No  other  excuse  can  be  assigned  for  the  slander  and 
vituperation  which  has  from  time  to  time  been  heaped 
upon  the  fair  reputation  of  General  U.  S.  Grant. 

Born  in  obscurity  at  Point  Pleasant,  Ohio,  April  27th, 
1822,  his  life  is  a  fitting  type  of  the  possibilities  of  our 
glorious  institutions.  Through  the  influence  of  Hon. 
Thomas  L.  Hamer  he  was  admitted  at  West  Point  in 
1839.  Personally,  at  this  early  age,  he  detested  war  and 
was  opposed  to  accepting  the  opportunity,  but  his  father 
persuaded  him  to  go,  and  his  name  was  blunderingly 
registered  as  U.  S.,  instead  of  H.  U.,  hence  he  was  ever 
after  known  as  U.  S.  Grant. 

In  1843  he  graduated,  ranking  twenty-first  in  a  class 
of  thirty-nine.  It  will  be  remembered  that  Lee  and 
McClellan  each  ranked  second  when  they  graduated. 
At  this  time  Grant  was  not  taken  with  war,  and  proba- 
bly evinced  little  interest  in  army  tactics.  The  Mexican 
war  came  on  and  Grant  here  distinguished  himself,  ris- 
ing to  the  rank  of  captain.  After  the  war  he  was  sta- 
tioned at  Detroit,  and  Sacketts  Harbor,  but  this  kind  of 
inactivity  was  ill-suited  to  the  restless  nature  of  Grant; 
he  therefore  resigned. 

Having  married  a  Miss  Dent,  of  St.  Louis,  he  accord- 
ingly moved  onto  a  farm  near  that  city.  The  next  few 
years  he  was  engaged  on  the  farm,  in  a  real  estate  office 
in  St.  Louis,  and  at  the  outbreak  of  the  civil  war  was  in 
business  with  his  father,  dealing  in  leather.  When  the 
news  of  the  fall  of  Fort  Sumter  reached  Galena  he  im- 
mediately raised  a  company  and  marched  to  Springfield 
where  they  tendered  their  services  to  the  governor. 
Grant  acted  as  mustering  officer  until,  being  commis- 
sioned colonel  of  the  Twenty-first  Illinois  Volunteers, 
he  took  the  field.    His  first  great  victory  was  the  capture 


FROM  OBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.         301 

of  Fort  Donelson  with  15,000  prisoners.  When  asked 
by  the  Confederate  general  what  terms  of  surrender  was 
expected  his ,  answer  was,  ''No  terms  other  than  an 
unconditional  and  immediate  surrender  can  be  ac- 
cepted. I  propose  to  move  upon  your  works  at  once.'^ 
The  fall  of  Fort  Donelson  and  the  capture  of  its  garri- 
son being  the  first  substantial  victory  that  had  crowned 
the  Union  cause,  together  with  the  above  described 
answer  to  General  Buckner,  brought  the  name  of  Gen- 
eral Grant  prominently  before  the  country. 

Pittsburgh  Landing  followed  and  then  Grant  deter- 
mined to  take  Yicksburg.  All  his  generals  declared  the 
plan  he  proposed  unmilitary  and  impossible,  but  after 
several  unsuccessful  attempts  the  Gibraltar  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi was  captured,  and  this  time  27,000  prisoners 
taken.  Now  came  the  battle  of  Chattanooga.  General 
Halleck  in  speaking  of  this  battle  said: 

"Considering  the  strength  of  the  rebel  position,  and 
the  difficulty  of  storming  his  intrenchments,  the  battle 
of  Chattanooga  must  be  considered  the  most  remarkable 
in  history.  Indeed  it  is  so.  After  Grant  had  turned  the 
Confederate  right  flank,  Sherman  was  intercepted  be- 
tween Longstreet  and  Bragg,  thus  cutting  Longstreet  en- 
tirely out,  and  preventing  another  junction  being  possi- 
ble. Eesolutions  of  thanks  were  passed  in  Ohio  and 
New  York,  and  Congress  created  Grant  a  Lieutenant- 
General,  a  commission  which  had  been  held  by  no  one 
since  General  Scott  resigned.  Indeed,  if  ever  a  General 
deserved  honor.  Grant  had  won  it ;  he  had  opened  the 
Mississippi  to  navigation,  and  had  captured  nearly  100,- 
000  prisoners  and  arms. 

He  was  now  commander  of  all  the  Federal  forces. 
He  at  once  inaugurated  two  campaigns  to  be  carried  on 


302  HIDDEN    TREASURES. 

at  once.  One  under  Sherman,  against  Atlanta  com- 
manded by  the  skillful  rebel  General  Johnson ;  the  other 
under  Meade,  directed  against  Lee  and  the  Confederate 
capitol.  Sherman  advanced  upon  Atlanta,  and  the  suc- 
cess of  his  famous  march  to  the  sea  is  well-known. 

The  capture  of  Lee  was  a  far  more  diflScult  under- 
taking. After  various  flanking  movements  and  costly 
assaults,  the  problem  of  taking  Lee  narrowed  itself  down 
to  a  siege  of  Petersburg.  Grant  perceived  that  his  only 
hope  lie  in  literally  starving  the  Confederate  army  out 
by  cutting  off  all  resources  as  far  as  practicable.  Lee 
attempted  to  draw  off  attention  toward  Washington,  l)nt 
General  Sheridan  drove  Early  out  of  the  Shenandoah 
Valley,  devastating  the  country  to  such  an  extent  that  it 
was  impossible  to  forage  an  army  there  should  Lee 
attempt  such  a  maneuver  again.  Time  wore  away,  an 
on  the  9th  of  April,  1865,  Grant  captured  the  Confeder- 
ate army  under  Lee,  thus  virtually  ending  the  war. 

On  July  25,  1866,  he  was  made  general  of  the  United 
States  army ;  the  rank  having  been  created  for  him,  he 
was  the  first  to  hold  it.  At  the  next  Republican  Con- 
vention, Grant  was  nominated  for  President  on  the  first 
ballot,  and  was  elected  over  Seymour,  and  was  re-elected 
a  second  term  by  an  increased  majority. 

When  his  public  services  were  finished  he  started  in 
company  with  his  wife,  son  Jesse,  and  a  few  friends. 
They  set  sail  from  Philadelphia  on  the  17th  of  May, 
1877.  They  visited  nearly  all  the  countries  of  Europe, 
and  part  of  those  of  Africa  and  Asia.  On  this  trip  the 
Grant  party  were  the  guests  of  nearly  all  the  crowned 
heads  of  those  foreign  countries,  everywhere  receiving 
the  most  exalted  honors  it  has  ever  been  the  pleasure  of 
an  American  to  enjoy,  and  on  his  return  to  the  United 


FROM  OBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.         303 

States  they  were  the  recipients  of  an  ovation  m  many 
of  the  principal  cities  of  this  country. 

His  success  seems  to  have  been  the  outgrowth  of 
hard  study  and  ability  to  perform  the  most  exhaustive 
labor  without  fatigue.  The  scenes  of  his  later  days  were 
clouded  with  the  intrigues  of  a  stock  gambler,  but  the 
stain  that  the  Grant- Ward  failure  seemed  likely  to  throw 
on  the  spotless  reputation  of  General  Grant  was  wiped 
away  when  the  facts  were  brought  to  light,  and  a  new 
lustre  was  added  to  his  fame  by  the  self-sacrifice  shown 
in  the  final  settlement. 

General  Grant  proved  to  be  a  writer  o^  no  low  order, 
and  his  autobiography  is  a  very  readable  book.  On  July 
23rd,  1885,  the  General  surrendered  to  a  loathsome  can- 
cer, and  the  testimonials  of  devotion  shown  the  honored 
dead  ;  and  the  bereaved  family  throughout  the  civilized 
world,  indicated  the  stronghold  upon  the  hearts  of  the 
people  held  by  the  dead  General. 


.  Stonewall  Jackson. 


THE  true  name  of  this  most  remarkable  man  was 
Thomas  Jonathan  Jackson;  few  people,  however, 
would  recognize  by  that  name  to  whom  was  referred.  At 
the  battle  of  Bull  Run,  when  the  Confederates  seemed 
about  to  fly,  General  Bee  suddenly  appearing  in  view  of 
his  men,  pointing  to  Jackson's  column  exclaimed :  "There 


304  HIDDEN   TREASURES. 

stands  Jackson  like  a  stone-wall."  From  that  hour  the 
name  he  received  by  ordinance  of  water  was  supplanted 
by  that  received  in  a  baptism  of  fire. 

Stonewall  Jackson  was  born  at  Clarksburg,  Virginia, 
January  21st,  1824.  He  graduated  at  West  Point  in 
time  to  serve  in  the  Mexican  war,  where  he  became  dis- 
tinguished for  gallant  service  and  was  brevetted  as 
captain,  and  finally  major.  After  serving  a  number  of 
years  in  the  regular  army  he  resigned  to  become  profes- 
sor and  instructor  in  military  tactics  in  the  Virginia 
Military  Academy,  situated  at  Lexington,  Kentucky.  He 
was  considered  at  this  time  a  most  peculiar  man,  being 
very  eccentric  in  his  habits.  At  the  breaking  out  of  the 
civil  war  he  naturally  sided  with  his  State,  and  it  is 
believed  that  he  was  sincere.  It  is  said  that  Jackson 
never  fought  a  battle  without  praying  earnestly  for  the 
success  of  his  people.  As  has  been  intimated,  he  saved 
the  day  for  the  Confederacy  at  Bull  Run. 

McClellan  was  promised  the  assistance  of  General 
McDowell  and  forty  thousand  men  who  had  been  left  at 
headquarters  for  the  protection  of  the  capital.  It  was 
well-known  that  a  combined  attack  on  Richmond  was 
designed  immediately  upon  the  junction  of  the  two 
great  armies.  To  prevent  the  execution  of  this  plan 
Jackson  was  ordered  to  drive  the  Federal  forces  out  of 
the  Shenandoah  Valley  and  threaten  Washington.  He 
accomplished  this  by  one  of  the  most  brilliant  cam- 
paigns of  the  war.  He  crossed  the  mountains  and  drove 
the  army  of  Fremont  back,  and  returning  to  the  Valley 
with  all  speed  defeated  Banks  at  every  turn  ;  indeed,  it 
was  only  by  the  most  rapid  marching  that  the  Federals 
escaped  across  the  Potomac. 

McDowell  was  suspended  from  joining  McClellan  and 
19 


FROM  OBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.         805 

ordered  to  co-operate  in  crushing  Jackson.  Jackson, 
with  a  force  of  scarcely  twenty  thousand  men,  had  op- 
posed to  him,  bent  upon  his  destruction,  fully  seventy 
thousand  men,  and  four  major-generals;  his  defeat 
seemed  certain,  yet  by  a  most  rapid  and  skillful  march 
he  eluded  pursuit  until  his  army  had  reached  a  point 
from  which  his  line  of  retreat  was  safe,  when  he  turned 
upon  his  enemy  and  defeated  Fremont  at  Cross  Keys 
June  8th,  and  Shields  at  Port  Republic  the  next  day. 
Having  thus  accomplished  the  purpose  of  the  campaign, 
he  hastened  to  join  Lee  in  his  attack  on  McClellan.  As 
before  stated,  this  was  a  most  brilliant  campaign.  Not 
only  was  McDowell  prevented  from  joining  McClellan, 
but  McClellan  became  alarmed  as  to  his  own  safety,  and 
resolved  to  change  his  base  from  the  York  to  the  James. 
This  forced  upon  him  the  Peninsula  campaign,  which 
resulted  in  the  Union  army  being  driven  back  to  Wash- 
ington. For  this  and  other  important  services  he  was 
made  a  major-general.  Being  placed  in  immediate  con- 
trol of  nearly  half  of  Lee's  entire  army,  he  made  one  of 
his  characteristic  movements ;  gaining  Pope's  rear,  fell 
upon  the  Union  forces  with  a  terrible  ferocity  ^which 
carried  all  before  it.  By  a  rapid  movement  in  the  Antie- 
tam  campaign  Jackson  captured  Harper's  Ferry  and 
eleven  thousand  men,  and  then,  by  a  forced  march, 
rejoined  Lee  in  time  to  take  an  important  part  in  the 
battle  of  Antietam  two  days  afterward. 

At  Fredericskburg  he  was  made  a  lieutenant-general. 
He  soon  controlled  two-thirds  of  the  Confederate  forces, 
and  at  Chancellorsville  he  made  a  secret  march  of  over 
fifteen  miles  mostly  by  forest  roads,  and  gaining 
Hooker's  right  fell  upon  it  by  surprise,  and  drove  it  in 
rout  upon  the  main  body.    The  engagement  being  ap- 


o06  HIDDEN    TREASURES. 

parently  over  he  rode  into  the  woods  to  reconnoiter,  hav- 
ing with  him  a  small  escort.  Upon  his  return  they  were 
mistaken  for  Union  scouts  and  fired  upon  by  his  own 
men.  Several  of  the  escort  were  killed,  and  Jackson  re- 
ceived three  balls,  one  through  each  hand  and  one  which 
shattered  his  shoulder.  He  was  at  length  carried  to  the 
rear  where  his  arm  was  amputated.  Pneumonia  set  in, 
however,  which  was  the  immediate  cause  of  his  death. 
His  last  words  were,  *'Let  us  cross  over  and  rest  under 
the  shade  of  the  trees." 

Stonewall  Jackson  was  considered  by  the  Confeder- 
ates to  have  been  their  most  brilliant  commander,  and 
his  death  had  much  to  do  with  the  overthrow  of  their 
Government. 


General  Robert  E.  Lee. 


ROBERT  E.  LEE  was  born  in  Virginia,  at  the  town  of 
Stafford,  June  19th,  1807.  He  was  son  of  Colonel 
Henry  Lee,  of  revolutionary  fame.  He  had  a  command- 
ing military  bearing,  was  a  most  graceful  horseman ;  he 
came  from  good  "fighting  stock,"  and  as  there  never  was 
a  braver  man  drew  sword,  he  was  well  calculated  to 
become  the  beau-ideal  of  the  Southern  Confederacy. 

When  eighteen  years  of  age  he  entered  the  military 
academy  at  West  Point,  where,  after  a  four  years'  course, 
he  graduated.    One  thing,  General  Lee,  as  a  cadet,  was 


FROM  OBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.         307 

an  example  well  worthy  of  imitation,  as  he,  during  his 
whole  four  years'  course,  never  received  a  reprimand, 
and  graduated  second  only  to  one  in  his  class.  From 
1829  until  1834,  he  served  as  assistant  engineer  in  the 
building  of  forts  in  the  South,  and  later  was  assistant 
-astronomer ;  aiding  in  determining  the  boundary  of  Ohio. 
When  the  Mexican  war  broke  out  he  was  appointed  chief 
engineer  for  the  army  under  General  Scott. 

During  this  war  he  served  with  great  distinction, 
being  successively  breveted  major,  lieutenant-colonel 
and  colonel,  and  was  wounded  once;  certain  it  is  that 
Eobert  E.  Lee  gave  ample  proof  of  his  ability  in  the 
Mexican  war.  In  the  interim  between  the  Mexican 
and  Civil  wars  he  served  his  country  in  various  ways, 
being  for  some  three  years  superintendent  of  the  West 
Point  Military  Academy. 

In  1855  two  new  regiments  were  formed.  Of  the 
second  regiment  Albert  Sidney  Johnson  was  made 
colonel;  Lee,  lieutenant-colonel;  Hardee  and  Thomas, 
majors;  Van  Dorn  and  Kirby  Smith,  captains;  among 
the  lieutenants  were  Stoneman  and  Hood.  One  can  see 
that  the  officers  of  that  regiment  were  composed  of  men 
of  no  small  calibre.  When  Lincoln  was  elected  Lee  was 
in  Texas,  but  he  obtained  a  leave  of  absence  and  hurried 
to  his  home  in  Virginia.  General  Lee  was  held  in  very 
high  esteem  by  General  Scott,  who  was  then  at  the  head 
of  all  the  Union  armies.  General  Scott  was  getting  very 
old,  too  old  for  active  service,  and  it  is  stated  that  he  felt 
strongly  inclined  to  name  Lee  as  his  successor,  but  Lee 
had  other  views  on  the  question  and  he  joined  his  for- 
tune with  that  of  the  South. 

Perhaps  a  letter  written  to  his  sister  will  more 
^clearly  portray  Lee's    convictions  and  motives  at  the 


308  HIDDEN   TREASURES. 

4 

breaking  out  of  hostilities  than  anything  that  can  be 
found  elsewhere  in  history: — "The  whole  South  is  in  a 
state  of  revolution  into  which  Virginia  has  been  drawn 
after  a  long  struggle;  and  though  I  recognize  no  neces- 
sity for  this  state  of  things  and  would  have  forborne  and 
pleaded  to  the  end  for  redress  of  grievances,  real  or  sup- 
posed, yet  in  my  own  person  I  had  to  meet  the  question 
whether  I  should  take  part  against  my  native  State. 
With  all  my  devotion  to  the  Union  and  the  feeling  of 
loyalty  and  duty  of  an  American  citizen,  I  have  not 
been  able  to  make  up  my  mind  to  raise  my  hand  against 
my  relatives,  my  children,  my  home.'^ 

These  were  the  words  of  General  Lee  to  his  sister. 
The  idea  of  certain  power  reserved  from  the  '^  central 
power,"  as  they  termed  it,  had  been  inculcated  since 
Jefferson  and  Madison  drew  up  the  Kentucky  and  Vir- 
ginia resolution  in  1798.  Upon  these  did  Calhoun  claim 
authority  to  rest  justified  when  he  fostered  the  idea  of 
State  Rights.  Had  it  not  been  for  a  sudden  wave  of 
popular  politics  which  swept  Jefferson  into  power  it 
might  have  been  Thomas  Jefferson  or  James  Madison 
who  would  have  been  known  in  history  as  the  author  of 
the  Nullification  Acts  which  did  not  come  until  Cal- 
houn's day. 

This  doctrine  had  been  taught  in  the  South  for  several 
generations,  and  had  enlarged  with  rolling.  The  profit- 
able use  of  slaves  helped  to  sustain  it,  and  it  is  no  w^on- 
der,  to  a  careful  observer,  that  these  people  were  carried 
away  by  rebellion,  when  he  takes  into  consideration  these 
things,  the  characteristics  of  the  people,  etc.  As  it  was 
with  Lee,  so  it  was  with  the  South,  and  despite  assertions 
to  the  contrary,  we  believe  that  Robert  E.  Lee  was  sin- 
cere, and  not  looking  after  glory  any  more  than  other 


FROM  OBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.         309 

officers  of  recognized   ability,  who  cast  their  fortunes 
with  the  North. 

Then,  too,  Lee  gained  his  position  at  the  head  of  the 
Southern  army  only  after  one  general  had  been  killed, 
another  wounded,  and  another  stricken  with  a  paralytic 
stroke ;  he  coming  fourth  in  order. 

On  June  3d,  1S62,  Lee  received  his  commission,  and 
immediately  launched  out  upon  a  series  of  battles  known 
as  the  seven-days  battle,  in  which  he  succeeded  in  driving 
McClellan  from  before  Richmond.  Pope  was  now  placed 
in  command  of  the  Union  forces,  and  Lee  signally  de- 
feated him  in  the  second  battle  of  Bull  Run.  Now  he 
attempted  his  first  invasion  of  the  North,  and  was  forced 
back  in  the  battle  of  Antietam.  Retreating  into  Vir- 
ginia, he  massed  his  forces  at  Fredericksburg.  The 
North  being  dissatisfied  with  the  slow  manner  in  which 
McClellan  was  following  Lee,  placed  Burnside  in  com- 
mand, who  attacked  Lee  in  his  position,  but  was  signally 
repulsed  by  the  Confederates.  He  next  met  Hooker  at 
Chancellorsville,  and  again  success  attended  the  standard 
of  Lee. 

Flushed  with  the  great  victories  of  Fredericksburg 
and  Chancellorsville,  Lee  once  more  started  on  an  inva- 
sion of  the  North.  Meade  was  now  put  at  the  head  of 
the  Union  forces,  who  at  once  started  in  pursuit.  They 
met  at  Gettysburgh,  Pennsylvania.  Three  long  days  of 
terrible  fighting  resulted  in  the  repulse  of  Lee,  and  he 
retreated  south  in  good  order.  When  he  reached  the 
Potomac  he  found  it  impassable.  If  Meade  had  followed 
Lee  up  now  he  might  have  gained  a  glorious  victory,  but 
he  allowed  Lee  to  escape  into  Virginia. 

General  Grant  was  now  placed  at  the  head  of  the 
Union  forces  and  Lee  found  he  had  other  metal  with 


310  HIDDEN    TREASURES. 

which  to  deal.  Grant  was  aot  only  made  of  different 
material  but  he  could  profit  by  the  experience  of  his 
predecessors.  Then,  too,  Grant  had  the  great  resources 
of  the  North  behind  him  and  the  confidence  of  President 
Lincoln.  Lee  could  never  replace  the  30,000  veterans 
lost  at  Gettysburg,  but  Grant  could  lose  later  80,000  and 
the  government  was  amply  able  to  replace  three  times 
that  number.  Grant  now  commenced  to  starve  Lee  out,  to 
wear  the  Confederacy  threadbare.  The  history  of  the  war 
from  now  until  the  close  of  the  war  is  a  series  of  flanking 
movements  carried  on  by  two  most  skillful  generals.  At 
last  Lee  was  obliged  to  surrender  on  the  9th  of  April,  1865, 
After  the  war  he  became  president  of  Washington 
and  Lee  University,  his  great  popularity  and  good  man- 
agement gaining  for  it  a  large  patronage.  He  died  on 
tne  12th  of  October,  1870. 


Henry  Wilson. 


GREAT  honor  is  due  any  man  who  rises  from  the  shoe- 
maker's bench  to  be  Vice-President  of  theUnited  States. 
Such  a  man  was  Henry  Wilson,  who  was  born  at  Farm- 
ington.  New  Hampshire^  February  IGth,  1812.  When 
yet  a  mere  child  he  was  apprenticed  to  a  farmer,  whom 
he  was  to  serve  until  of  age.  Eleven  long  years  did  he 
serve  this  man,  receiving  only  about  one  year's  school- 
ing during  that  time,  but  he  borrowed  books  and  read 


FROM  OBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.         311 

nearly  one  thousand  volumes  during  the  "wee  sma' 
hours'^  of  his  apprenticeship.  Upon  obtaining  his  ma^ 
jority  he  started  on  foot  for  JSTatick,  Massachusetts,  and 
entered  the  town  with  all  his  worldly  possessions  in  a 
bundle.  Obtaining  employment  as  a  shoemaker  he  was 
thus  occupied  for  the  next  two  years.  His  course  of 
reading,  so  faithfully  followed,  had  made  him  proficient 
in  history,  but  thirsting  for  additional  knowledge  he  de- 
cided to  attend  school  with  the  money  he  had  saved. 
About  this  time  he  went  to  Washington,  when  the  sight 
of  slaves  bought  and  sold  excited  his  sympathy,  and  he  de- 
cided to  forever  oppose  with  all  his  might  the  institution 
of  bondage,  which  he  always  did,  no  matter  how  found. 
Upon  his  return  he  found  his  earnings  swept  away  by 
the  failure  of  the  man  to  whom  he  had  intrusted  them. 
Accordingly  he  resumed  the  shoe  business,  but  his  light 
was  beginning  to  be  seen.  He  was  invited  to  partake  in 
the  anti-slavery  meetings,  then  so  frequent  in  Massachu- 
'  setts,  and  actively  engaged  in  the  campaign  in  which 
Harrison  was  elected  President,  making  over  sixty 
speeches. 

In  1843  he  was  elected  to  the  State  Senate.  Also 
manufactured  shoes  on  an  extended  scale  for  the  south- 
ern market.  The  old  Whig  party,  with  whom  he  had  been 
so  earnestly  allied,  proving  itself  unable  to  cope  with  the 
slave  power,  by  rejecting  the  anti-slavely  resolutions  at 
the  convention  of  1843,  he  withdrew  from  it.  Later,  he 
was  a  conspicuous  figure  in  the  organization  of  the  new 
Free  Soil  party,  being  the  Chairman  of  the  committee 
in  his  State,  and  editor  of  the  Boston  Republican.  In 
1850-52  he  was  president  of  the  State  Senate,  and  in  '52 
presided  at  the  Free  Soil  contention  at  Pittsburgh.  The 
next  year  he  was  the  Free  Soil  candidate  for  Governor 


312  HIDDEN   TREASURES. 

of  Massachusetts,  but  was  defeated.  In  1855  he  was 
chosen  United  States  Senator,  where  he  distinguished 
himself.  When  his  colleague,  Mr.  Sumner,  was  attacked 
by  Preston  S.  Brooks,  Mr.  Wilson  fearlessly  denounced 
it  as  a  cowardly,  not  to  say  dastardly  assault.  He  was 
immediately  challenged  by  Mr.  Brooks,  but  declined  on 
the  ground  that  dueling  is  a  barbarous  custom  which  the 
law  of  the  country  has  branded  as  a  crime.  He  was  one 
of  the  leaders  in  the  new  Republican  party  movement. 

During  the  civil  war  his  labors  were  indefatigable  for 
the  Union,  and  in  1872  he  was  elected  on  that  ticket  witk 
Grant  by  an  overwhelming  majority. 

He  died  in  office  ,  November  22nd,  1875,  and  the  boy 
shoemaker  was  mourned  by  a  great  nation.  Truly,  the 
price  of  success  is  patient  toil. 


Abraham  Lincoln, 


IF  one  reads  the  life  of  Abraham  Lincoln  they  are 
thoroughly  convinced  that  the  possibilities  of  our 
country  are  indeed  very  great.  He  was  born  in  Hardin 
county,  Kentucky,  on  the  14th  day  of  February,  1809,  of 
very  poor  parents,  who  lived  in  a  log  cabin. 

Scarcely  a  boy  in  the  country  will  read  these  lines  but 
has  tenfold  the  opportunity  to  succeed  in  the  world  as 
had  Abraham  Lincoln.  When  he  was  still  a  little  boy 
his  parents  moved  to  Indiana,  which  was  then  a  wilder- 


FROM  OBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.         313 

ness.  Here,  in  a  log  cabin,  he  learned  to  read  under  the 
tuition  of  his  mother  and  afterward  received  nearly  a 
year's  schooling  at  another  log  cabin  a  mile  away, — 
nearly  a  year's  schooling  and  all  the  schooling  he  ever 
received  from  a  tutor ! 

But  he  loved  books,  he  craved  knowledge  and  eagerly 
did  he  study  the  few  books  which  fell  in  his  way.  He 
kept  a  scrap-book  into  which  he  copied  the  striking 
passages  and  this  practice  enabled  him  to  gain  an  educa- 
tion. Here  he  grew  up,  becoming  famous  for  his  great 
strength  and  agility;  he  was  six  foot  four  inches  in  his 
stockings  and  was  noted  as  the  most  skillful  wrestler  in 
the  country.  When  he  was  about  twenty  years  old  the 
Lincoln  family  moved  to  Illinois,  settling  ten  miles  from 
Decatur,  where  they  cleared  about  fifteen  acres  and  built 
a  log  cabin.  Here  is  where  Lincoln  gained  his  great 
reputation  as  a  rail-splitter.  He  had  kept  up  his  original 
system  of  reading  and  sketching,  and  from  this  period 
in  his  life  he  became  a  marked  man — he  was  noted  for 
his  information.  It  makes  little  difference  whether 
knowledge  is  gained  in  college  or  by  the  side  of  a  pile  of 
rails,  as  Lincoln  was  wont  to  study  after  his  day's  work 
was  done. 

In  1830  he  took  a  trip  on  a  flat-boat  to  New  Orleans. 
It  was  on  this  trip  that  he  first  saw  slaves  chained 
together  and  whipped.  Ever  after,  he  detested  the  insti- 
tution of  slavery.  Upon  his  return  he  received  a  chal- 
lenge from  a  famous  wrestler  ;  he  accepted  and  threw 
his  antagonist.  About  this  time  he  became  a  clerk  in  a 
country  store,  where  his  honesty  and  square  dealing  made 
him  a  universal  favorite,  and  earned  for  him  the  sobri- 
quet of  ^Honest  Abe.'  He  next  entered  the  Black 
Hawk  war,   and  was  chosen  captain  of  his  company. 


314  HIDDEN   TREASURES. 

Jefferson  Davis  also  served  as  an  officer  in  this  v^ar. 
In  the  fall  of  1832  he  was  a  candidate  for  the  legisla- 
ture, but  was  defeated.  He  then  opened  a  store  with  a 
partner  named  Berry.  Lincoln  was  made  post-master, 
but  Berry  proved  a  drunkard  and  spendthrift,  bringing 
the  concern  to  banlirux)tcy,  and  soon  after  died,  to  fill  a 
drunkard's  grave,  leaving  Lincoln  to  pay  all  the  debts. 
But  during  all  this  time  Lincoln  had  been  improving  his 
spare  moments  learning  surveying,  and  for  the  next  few 
years  he  earned  good  wages  surveying. 

He  now  decided  to  become  a  lawyer,  and  devoted  his 
attention,  so  far  as  possible,  to  the  accumulation  of  a 
thorough  knowledge.  At  one  period  during  his  studies 
he  walked,  every  Saturday,  to  Springfield,  some  eight 
miles  away,  to  borrow  and  return  books  pertaining  to 
his  studies.  These  books  he  studied  nights,  and  early  in 
the  morning,  out  of  working  hours.  In  1834  he  was 
once  more  a  candidate  for  the  legislature,  and  was  tri- 
umphantly elected,  being  re-elected  in  1836,  1838,  and 
1 840.  In  1837,  when  he  had  arrived  at  the  age  of  twenty- 
eight,  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar,  where  he  soon  became 
noted  as  a  very  successful  pleader  before  a  jury.  He  was 
a  Whig  of  the  Henry  Clay  school,  a  splendid  lawyer,  and 
a  ready  speaker  at  public  gatherings. 

In  1836  he  first  met  Stephen  A.  Douglas  who  was 
destined  to  be  his  adversary  in  the  political  arena  for 
the  next  twenty  years.  Stephen  A.  Douglas  was,  or 
soon  became  the  leader  of  the  Democracy  in  Illinois  and 
Lincoln  spoke  for  the  Whigs  as  against  Douglas.  In 
1847  Lincoln  was  sent  to  Congress,  being  chosen  over 
the  renowned  Peter  Cartwright,  who  was  tlie  Democratic 
candidate.  In  Congress  he  vigorously  opposed  President 
Polk  and  the  Mexican  war,  and  proposed  a  bill  to  abolish 


FKOM  OBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.         ol5 

slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  provided  the  inhabi- 
tants v^ould  vote  for  it.  In  1855  he  withdrew  from  the 
contest  for  the  United  States  Senatorship  in  favor  of  Mr. 
Trumbull,  whom  he  knew  would  draw  away  manj^ 
Democratic  votes  and  to  Lincoln  was  due  Trumbull's 
election.  During  the  canvass  he  met  Stephen  A.  Douglas 
in  debate  at  Springfield,  where  he  exploded  the  theory 
of  *  Squatter  Sovereignty'  in  one  sentence,  namely:  "I 
admit  that  the  emigrant  to  Kansas  and  Nebraska  is  com- 
petent to  govern  himself,  but  I  deny  his  right  to  govern 
any  other  person  without  that  iDcrson's  consent." 

In  1858  he  had  his  great  contest  for  the  United  States 
Senatorship  with  Douglas.  At  that  time  Judge  Douglas 
was  renowned  throughout  the  nation  as  one  of  the  ablest, 
if  not  the  ablest  of  American  speakers.  Horace  Greeley 
well  said,  *^The  man  who  stumps  a  State  with  Stephen 
A.  Douglas  and  meets  him  day  after  day  before  the  peo- 
ple has  got  to  be  no  fool."  The  tremendous  political  ex* 
citement  growing  out  of  the  ^Kansas-Nebraska  Act,' and 
the  agitation  of  the  slavery  question,  in  its  relation  to 
the  vast  territory  of  Kansas  and  Nebraska,  convulsed  the 
nation.  The  interest  was  greatly  heightened  from  the 
fact  that  these  two  great  gladiators,  Stephen  A.  Douglas, 
the  great  mouth-piece  of  the  Democratic  party  and 
champion  of  ^Squatter  Sovereignty,'  and  Abraham  Lin- 
coln, a  prominent  lawyer,  but  otherwise  comparatively 
unknown,  the  opponent  of  that  popular  measure  and  the 
coming  champion  of  the  anti-slavery  party. 

The  question  at  issue  was  immense — permanent,  not 
transient — universal,  not  local,  and  the  debate  attracted 
profound  attention  on  the  part  of  the  people,  whether 
Democratic  or  Free  Soil,  from  the  Kennebec  to  the  Rio 
Grande.    Mr.  Douglas  held  that  the  vote  of  the  majority 


S16  HIDDEN   TREASURES. 

of  the  people  of  a  territory  should  decide  this  as  well  as 
all  other  questions  concerning  their  domestic  or  internal 
affairs.  Mr.  Lincoln,  on  the  contrary,  urged  the  neces- 
sity of  an  organic  enactment,  excluding  slavery  in  any 
form — thts  last  to  be  the  condition  of  its  admission  into 
the  Union  as  a  State.  The  public  mind  was  divided  and 
the  utterances  and  movements  of  every  public  man  were 
closely  scanned.  Finally,  after  the  true  western  style,  a 
joint  discussion,  face  to  face,  between  Lincoln  and  Doug- 
las, as  the  two  representative  leaders,  was  proposed  and 
agreed  upon.  It  was  arranged  that  they  should  have 
seven  great  debates,  one  each  at  Ottawa,  Freeport, 
Charleston,  Jonesboro,  Galesburg,  Quincy,  and  Alton. 

Processions  and  cavalcades,  bands  of  music  and  can- 
non-firing made  every  day  a  day  of  excitement.  But  the 
excitement  was  greatly  intensified  from  the  fact  that  the 
oratorical  contests  were  between  two  such  skilled  de- 
baters, before  mixed  audiences  of  friends  and  foes,  to 
rejoice  over  every  keen  thrust  at  the  adversary,  and 
again  to  be  cast  down  by  each  failure  to  'give  back  as 
good,'  or  to  parry  the  thrust  so  aimed. 

In  personal  appearance,  voice,  gesture  and  general 
platform  style,  nothing  could  exceed  the  dissimilarity  of 
these  two  speakers.  Mr.  Douglas  possessed  a  frame  or 
build  particularly  attractive ;  a  natural  presence  which 
would  have  gained  for  him  access  to  the  highest  circles, 
however  courtly,  in  any  land ;  a  thick-set,  finely  built, 
courageous  man,  with  an  air  as  natural  to  him  as  breath, 
of  self-confidence  that  did  not  a  little  to  inspire  his  sup- 
porters with  hope.  That  he  was  every  inch  a  man  no 
friend  or  foe  ever  questioned.  Ready,  forceful,  animated, 
keen,  playful,  by  turns,  and  thoroughly  artificial ;  he  was 
one  of  the  most  admirable  platform  speakers  that  ever 


FKOM  OBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.         317 

appeared  before  an  American  audience,  his  personal 
geniality,  too,  being  so  abounding  that,  excepting  in  a 
political  sense,  no  antagonism  existed  between  him  and 
his  opponent. 

Look  at  Lincoln.  In  personal  appearance,  what  a  con- 
trast to  his  renowned  opponent.  Six  feet  and  four  inches 
high,  long,  lean  and  wiry  in  motion;  he  had  a  good  deal 
of  the  elasticity  and  awkwardness  which  indicated  the 
rough  training  of  his  early  life;  his  face  genial  looking, 
with  good  humor  lurking  in  every  corner  of  its  innumer- 
able angles.  Judge  Douglas  once  said,  ^'I  regard  Lincoln 
as  a  kind,  amiable  and  intelligent  gentleman,  a  good 
citizen  and  an  honorable  opponent."  As  a  speaker  he 
was  ready,  precise,  fluent  and  his  manner  before  a  popu- 
lar assembly  was  just  as  he  pleased  to  make  it;  being 
either  superlatively  ludicrous  or  very  impressive.  He 
employed  but  little  gesticulation  but  when  he  desired 
to  make  a  point  produced  a  shrug  of  the  shoulders,  an 
elevation  of  the  eyebrows,  a  depression  of  his  mouth  and 
a  general  malformation  of  countenance  so  comically 
awkward  that  it  scarcely  ever  failed  to  'bring  down  the 
house.'  His  enunciation  was  slow  and  distinct,  and  his 
voice  though  sharp  and  piercing  at  times  had  a  tendency 
to  dwindle  into  a  shrill  and  unpleasant  tone.  In  this 
matter  of  voice  and  commanding  attitude,  the  odds  were 
decidedly  in  favor  of  Judge  Douglas. 

Arrangements  having  been  consummated,  the  first 
debate  took  place  at  Ottawa,  in  Lasalle  county,  and 
a  strong  Republican  district.  The  crowd  in  attendance 
was  a  large  one,  and  about  equally  divided — the  enthu- 
siasm of  the  Democracy  having  brought  more  than  a 
due  proportion  of  ther  numbers  to  hear  and  see  their 
favorite   leader.     The  thrilling  tones   of    Douglas,  his 


318  HIDDEN    TREASURES. 

manly  defiance  against  the  principles  lie  believed  to  be 
wrong  assured  his  friends,  if  any  assurance  were  wanting, 
that  he  was  the  same  unconquered  and  unconquerable 
Democrat  that  he  had  proved  to  be  for  the  previous 
twenty-five  years. 

Douglas  opened  the  discussion  and  spoke  one  hour ; 
Lincoln  followed,  the  time  assigned  him  being  an  hour 
and  a  half,  tliough  he  yielded  a  portion  of  it.  It  was 
not  until  the  second  meeting,  however,  that  the  speakers 
grappled  with  those  profound  i:)ublic  questions  that  had 
thus  brought  them  together,  and  in  which  the  nation 
was  intenselv  interested.  The  debates  were  a  wonderful 
exhibition  of  power  and  eloquence. 

In  the  first  debate  Isir.  Douglas  arraigned  his  opponent 
for  the  expression  in  a  former  speech  of  a  '^  House  divided 
against  itself,"  etc., — referring  to  the  slavery  and  anti- 
slavery  sections  of  the  country ;  and  Mr.  Lincoln  defended 
those  ideas  as  set  forth  in  the  speech  referred  to.  As 
Mr.  Lincoln's  position  in  relation  to  one  or  two  points 
growing  out  of  the  former  speech  referred  to,  had  at- 
tracted great  attention  throughout  the  country,  he  availed 
himself  of  the  opportunity  of  this  preliminary  meeting 
to  reply  to  what  he  regarded  as  common  misconceptions. 
"Anything,''  he  said,  "that  argues  me  into  the  idea  of 
perfect  social  and  political  equality  with  the  negro  is 
but  a  specious  and  fantastic  arrangement  of  words,  by 
which  a  man  can  prove  a  horse-chestnut  to  be  a  chest- 
nut horse,  I  will  say  here,  while  upon  this  subject,  that  I 
have  no  purpose,  directly  or  indirectly,  to  interfere  with 
the  institution  of  slavery  in  the  States  where  it  now 
exists.  I  believe  I  have  no  lawful  right  to  do  so,  and  I 
have  no  inclination  to  do  so.  I  have  no  purpose  to  in- 
troduce political  and  social  equality  between  the  white 


FROM  OBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.         319 

and  black  races.  There  is  a  physical  difference  between 
the  two  which,  in  my  judgment,  will  probably  forever 
forbid  their  living  together  upon  a  footing  of  perfect 
equality,  and  inasmuch  as  it  becomes  a  matter  of  nec- 
essity that  there  must  be  a  difference  I,  as  well  as  Judge 
Douglas,  am  in  favor  of  the  race  to  which  I  belong, 
having  the  superior  position.  I  have  never  said  anything 
to  the  contrary,  but  I  hold  that  notwithstanding  all  this, 
there  is  no  reason  in  the  world  why  the  negro  is  not  en- 
titled to  all  the  natural  rights  enumerated  in  the  Dec- 
laration of  Independence — the  right  to  life,  liberty,  and 
the  pursuits  of  happiness.  I  hold  that  he  is  as  much 
entitled  to  these  as  the  white  man.  I  agree  with  Judge 
Douglas  he  is  not  my  equal  in  many  respects — certainly 
not  in  color,  perhaps  not  in  moral  and  intellectual  en- 
dowment. But  in  the  right  to  eat  the  bread  without  the 
leave  of  any  one  else,  which  his  own  hand  earns,  he  is 
my  equal,  and  the  equal  of  Judge  Douglas,  and  the  equal 
of  every  living  man. 

Touching  the  question  of  respect  or  weight  of  opin- 
ion due  to  deliverance  of  the  United  States  Supreme 
Court — an  element  which  entered  largely  into  this  na- 
tional contest,  Mr.  Lincoln  said :  ''  This  man — Douglas 
— sticks  to  a  decision  which  forbids  the  people  of  a  terri- 
tory from  excluding  slavery,  and  he  does  so,  not  because 
he  says  it  is  right  in  itself — he  does  not  give  any  opinion 
on  that,  but  because  it  has  been  decided  by  the  Court, 
and  being  decided  by  the  Court,  he  is,  and  you  are  bound 
to  take  it  in  your  political  action  as  law;  not  that  he 
judges  at  all  of  its  merits,  but  because  a  decision  of  the 
Court  is  to  him  a  'Thus  saith  the  Lord.'  He  places  it 
on  that  ground  alone,  and  you  will  bear  in  mind  that 
thus  committing  himself  unreservedly  to  this  decision, 


320  HIDDEN    TREASURES. 

commits  him  to  the  next  one  just  as  firmly  as  to  this. 
He  did  not  commit  himself  on  account  of  the  merit  or 
demerit  of  the  decision,  but  is  a  ^Thus  saith  the  Lord/ 
The  next  decision,  as  much  as  this,  will  be  a  '  Thus  saith 
the  Lord/  There  is  nothing  that  can  divert  or  turn  him 
away  from  this  decision.  It  is  nothing  that  I  point  out 
to  him  that  his  great  prototype.  General  Jackson,  did  not 
believe  in  the  binding  force  of  decisions — it  is  nothing 
to  him  that  Jefferson  did  not  so  believe.  I  have  said 
that  I  have  often  heard  him  approve  of  Jackson's  course 
in  disregarding  the  decision  of  the  Supreme  Court,  pro- 
nouncing a  national  bank  unconstitutional.  He  says:  I 
did  not  hear  him  say  so ;  he  denies  the  accuracy  of  my 
recollection.  I  say  he  ought  to  know  better  than  I,  but 
I  will  make  n©  question  about  this  thing,  though  it  stili 
seems  to  me  I  heard  him  say  it  twenty  times.  I  will  tell 
him,  though,  that  he  now  claims  to  stand  on  the  Cincin- 
nati platform  which  affirms  that  Congress  cannot  charter 
a  national  bank,  in  the  teeth  of  that  old  standing  de- 
cision that  Congress  can  charter  a  bank.  And  I  remind 
him  of  another  piece  of  history  on  the  question  of 
respect  for  judicial  decisions,  and  it  is  a  piece  of  Illinois 
history  belonging  to  a  time  when  the  large  party  to 
which  Judge  Douglas  belonged  were  displeased  with  a 
decision  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Illinois,  because  they 
had  decided  that  a  Governor  could  not  remove  a  Secre- 
tary of  State.  I  know  that  Judge  Douglas  will  not  deny 
that  he  was  then  in  favor  of  oversloughing  that  decision 
by  the  mode  of  adding  five  new  judges,  so  as  to  vote 
down  the  four  old  ones.  Not  only  so,  but  it  ended  in 
the  judge's  sitting  down  on  that  very  bench,  as  one  of 
the  five  new  judges  so  as  to  break  down  the  four  old 
ones."  In  this  strain  Mr.  Lincoln  occupied  most  of  his 
20 


FROM  OBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.         82 1 

time.    But  the  debate  was  a  very  equal  thing,  and  the 
contest  did  not  prove  a  ^walk  over'  either  way. 

At  the  meeting  in  Ottawa  Mr.  Lincoln  ]3ropounded 
certain  questions  to  which  Judge  Douglas  promptly  an- 
swered. Judge  Douglas  spoke  in  something  of  the  fol- 
lowing strain:  "He  desires  to  know  if  the  people  of 
Kansas  shall  form  a  constitution  by  means  entirely 
proper  and  unobjectionable,  and  ask  admission  into  the 
Union  as  a  State  before  they  have  the  requisite  popula- 
tion for  a  member  of  Congress,  whether  I  will  vote  for 
that  admission  ?  Well,  now,  I  regret  exceedingly  that  he 
did  not  answer  that  interrogatory  himself  before  he  put 
it  to  me,  in  order  that  we  might  understand  and  not  be 
left  to  infer  on  which  side  he  is.  Mr.  Trumbull  during 
the  last  session  of  Congress  voted  from  the  beginning  to 
the  end  against  the  admission  of  Oregon,  although  a  free 
State,  because  she  had  not  the  requisite  population.  As 
Mr.  Trumbull  is  in  the  held  fighting  for  Mr.  Lincoln,  I 
would  like  to  have  Mr.  Lincoln  answer  his  own  question 
and  tell  me  whether  he  is  fighting  Trumbull  on  that 
issue  or  not.  But  I  will  answer  his  question.  In  refer- 
ence to  Kansas  it  is  my  opinion  that  as  she  has  popula- 
tion enough  to  constitute  a  slave  State,  she  has  people 
enough  for  a  free  State.  I  will  not  make  Kansas  an  ex- 
ceptional case  to  the  other  States  of  the  Union.  I  made 
that  proposition  in  the  Senate  in  1S56,  and  I  renewed  it 
during  the  last  session  in  a  bill  providing  that  no  terri- 
tory of  the  United  States  should  form  a  constitution  and 
apply  for  admission  until  it  had  the  requisite  population. 
On  another  occasion  I  proposed  that  neither  Kansas 
nor  any  other  territory  should  be  admitted  until 
it  had  the  requisite  population  Congress  did  not 
adopt    any    of  my   propositions   containing  this  gen- 


o22  HIDDEN    TREASURES. 

eral  rule,  but  did  make  an  exception  of  Kansas. 
I  will  stand  by  that  exception.  Either  Kansas 
must  come  in  as  a  free  State,  with  whatever  population 
she  may  have,  or  the  rule  must  be  applied  to  all  the 
other  territories  alike." 

Mr.  Douglas  next  proceeded  to  answer  another  ques- 
tion proposed  by  Mr.  Lincoln,  namel}^:  Whether  the 
I)eople  of  a  territory  can,  in  any  lawful  way,  against  the 
wishes  of  any  citizen  of  the  United  States,  exclude 
slavery  from  their  limits  prior  to  the  formation  of  a 
State  constitution.  Said  Judge  Douglas:  ^I  answer 
emphatically,  as  Mr.  Lincoln  has  heard  me  answer  a 
hundred  times  from  every  stump  in  Illinois,  that  in  my 
opinion  the  people  of  a  territory  can,  by  lawful  means, 
exclude  slavery  from  their  limits  prior  to  the  formation 
of  a  State  constitution.  Mr.  Lincoln  knew  that  I  had 
answered  that  question  over  and  over  again.  He  heard 
me  argue  the  Nebraska  Bill  on  that  principle  all  over 
the  State  in  1854,  in  1855  and  in  1856,  and  he  has  no  ex- 
cuse for  pretending  to  be  in  doubt  as  to  my  position.  It 
matters  not  what  way  the  Supreme  Court  may  hereafter 
decide  as  to  the  abstract  question,  whether  slavery  may 
or  may  not  go  into  a  territory  under  the  constitution, 
the  people  have  the  lawful  means  to  introduce  it  or  ex- 
clude it  as  they  please,  for  the  reason  that  slavery  can- 
not exist  a  day  or  an  hour  unless  it  is  supported  by  local 
police  regulations.  Those  police  regulations  can  only 
be  established  by  the  local  legislature,  and  if  the  people 
are  opposed  to  slavery  they  will  elect  representatives  to 
that  body  who  will,  by  unfriendly  legislation,  efiectually 
prevent  the  introduction  of  it  into  their  midst.  If,  on 
the  contrary,  they  are  for  it  their  legislation  will  favor 
its  extension.    Hence,  no  matter  what  the  decision  of 


FROM  OBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.         323 

the  Supreme  Court  may  be  on  that  abstract  question, 
still  the  right  of  the  people  to  make  a  slave  territory  or 
free  territory  is  perfect  and  complete  under  the  Ne- 
braska Bill." 

It  was  with  great  vigor  and  adroitness  that  the  two 
great  combatants  went  over  the  ground  at  the  remain- 
ing five  places  of  debate,  all  of  which  were  attended 
and  listened  to  by  immense  concourses.  On  both  sides 
the  speeches  were  able,  eloquent,  exhaustive.  It  was 
admitted  by  Lincoln's  friends  that  on  several  occasions 
he  was  partly  foiled,  or  at  least  badly  bothered,  while  on 
the  other  hand  the  admirers  of  Douglas  allowed  that  in 
more  than  one  instance  he  was  flatly  and  fairly  floored 
by  Lincoln.  It  was  altogether  about  an  equal  match  in 
respect  to  ability,  logic,  and  eloquence.  Both  of  them 
were  self-made  men;  both  of  them  were  able  lawyers  and 
politicians ;  both  sprang  from  obscurity  to  distinction ; 
both  belonged  to  the  common  people;  and  both  were 
strong  and  popular  with  the  masses. 

Though  defeated  by  an  unfair  apportionment  of  the 
legislative  districts  for  the  senatorship,  yet  Lincoln  so 
ably  fought  the  great  Douglas  with  such  wonderful 
power  as  to  surprise  the  nation.  Heretofore  but  little 
known  out  of  his  native  State ;  this  debate  made  him  one 
of  the  two  most  conspicuous  men  in  the  nation,  and  the 
excitement  was  intensified  from  the  fact  that  both  from 
that  hour  were  the  chosen  opponents  for  the  coming 
presidential  contest. 

At  the  ensuing  presidential  contest  Lincoln  was 
elected  to  the  presidency,  and  the  gory  front  of  secession 
was  raised.  Forgetting  past  differences,  Douglas  mag- 
nanimously stood  shoulder  to  shoulder  with  Lincoln  in 
behalf  of  the  Union.    It  was  the  olive  branch  of  genuine 


324  HIDDEN    TREASURES. 

patriotism.  But  y/liile  proudly  holding  aloft  the  banner 
of  his  nation  in  the  nation  councils,  and  while  yet  the 
blood  of  his  countrymen  had  not  blended  together  and 
drenched  the  land,  the  great  senator  was  suddenly 
snatched  from  among  the  living  in  the  hour  of  the  coun- 
try's greatest  need ;  while  the  brave  Lincoln  was  allowed 
to  see  the  end — the  cause  triumphant,  when  he  was  also 
called  from  death  unto  life. 

Lincoln  elected,  though  he  was,  and  admitted  to  have 
received  his  election  fairly  and  triumphantly,  was  yet  of 
necessity  compelled  to  enter  Washington,  like  a  thief  in 
the  night,  to  assume  his  place  at  the  head  of  the  nation. 
Lincoln  met  the  crisis  calmly  but  firmly.  He  had  watched 
the  coming  storm  and  he  asked,  as  he  bade  adieu  to  his 
friends  and  fellow-citizens,  their  earnest  prayers  to  Al- 
mighty God  that  he  might  have  wisdom  and  help  to  see 
the  right  path  and  pursue  it.  Those  prayers  were 
answered.  He  guided  the  ship  of  State  safely  through 
the  most  angry  storm  that  ever  demanded  a  brave  and 
good  pilot.  We  can  only  gaze  in  awe  on  the  memory  of 
this  man.  He  seemingly  knew  in  a  moment,  when 
placed  in  a  trying  position  that  would  have  baffled  an  in- 
ferior mind,  just  what  to  do  for  the  best  interest  of  the 
nation. 

Mr.  Lincoln  had  unsurpassed  fitness  for  the  task  he 
had  to  execute.  Without  anything  like  brilliancy  of 
genius,  without  breadth  of  learning  or  literary  accom- 
plishments, he  had  that  perfect  balance  of  thoroughly 
sound  faculties  which  gave  him  the  reputation  of  an 
almost  infallible  judgment.  This,  combined  with 
great  calmness  of  temper,  inflexible  firmness  of  will, 
supreme  moral  purpose,  and  intense  patriotism  made  up 
just  that  character  which  fitted  him,  as  the  same  quali- 


FROM  OBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.         325 

ties  fitted  Washington,  for  the  salvation  of  his  country 
in  a  period  of  stupendous  responsibility  and  eminent 
peril. 

Although  far  advanced  on  the  question  of  slavery, 
personally,  he  was  exceedingly  careful  about  pushing 
measures  upon  a  country  he  knew  was  hardly  prepared 
as  yet  to  receive  such  sweeping  legislation.  An  ac- 
quaintance once  said :  '  It  is  hard  to  believe  that  very 
nearly  one-half  of  the  Republican  party  were  opposed 
to  the  issue  of  the  proclamation  of  emancipation.'  Thus 
Lincoln  avoided  all  extremes,  and  this  quality  alone 
made  him  eminently  fit  to  govern.  Yet,  when  necessary, 
he  was  stern  and  unrelenting.  When  the  British  minis- 
ter desired  to  submit  instructions  from  his  government, 
stating  that  that  government  intended  to  sustain  a  neutral 
relation,  he  refused  to  receive  it  officiall}^  When  France 
demanded  recognition  by  the  United  States  of  the  gov- 
ernment of  Maximilian,  in  Mexico,  he  steadily  refused. 
He  was  firm  as  a  rock  ;  he  would  ride  post  haste  twenty 
miles  to  pardon  a  deserter,  but  under  no  consideration 
could  he  be  induced  to  suspend  hostilities  against  a 
people  who  were  trying  to  destroy  the  Union.  All  sorts 
of  political  machinery  was  invented  to  manufacture 
public  opinion  and  sentiment  against  him,  but  he  was 
triumphantly  re-elected  in  1864. 

The  morning  of  Lincoln's  second  inauguration  was 
verj  stormy,  but  the  sky  cleared  just  before  noon,  and 
the  sun  shone  brightly  as  he  appeared  before  an  im- 
mense audience  in  front  of  the  capitol,  and  took  the 
oath  and  delivered  an  address,  alike  striking  for  its 
forcible  expressions  and  conciliatory  spirit.  He  spoke 
something  as  follows : 

''On  the  occasion  corresponding  to  this,  four  years 


326  HIDDEN   TREASURES. 

ago,  all  thoughts  were  anxiously  directed  to  an  impend- 
ing civil  war.  *  *  *  Both  parties  deprecated  war, 
but  one  of  them  would  make  war  rather  than  let  the 
nation  survive,  and  the  other  would  accept  war  rather 
than  let  it  perish;  and  the  war  came.  *  *  *  Both 
read  the  same  Bible,  and  pray  to  the  same  God,  and  each 
invokes  His  aid  against  the  other.  It  may  seem  strange 
that  any  man  should  dare  to  ask  a  just  God's  assistance 
in  wringing  their  bread  from  the  sv/eat  of  other  men's 
faces;  but  let  us  judge  not  that  we  be  not  judged.  The 
prayer  of  both  could  not  be  answered.  That  of  neither 
has  been  fully.  *  *  *  With  malice  toward  none, 
with  charity  for  all,  with  the  firmness  in  the  right,  as 
God  gives  us  light  to  see  the  right,  let  us  finish  the  work 
we  are  in  to  bind  up  the  nation's  wounds,  to  care  for 
him  who  shall  have  borne  the  battle,  and  for  his  widow 
and  his  orphans,  to  all  which  may  achieve  and  cherish 
a  just  and  lasting  peace  among  ourselves  and  with  all 
nations." 

He  hated  slavery  from  the  beginning,  but  was  not  an 
abolitionist  until  it  was  constitutional  to  be  so.  At  the 
head  of  the  nation,  when  precedents  were  useless,  he 
was  governed  by  justice  only.  He  was  singularly  fortu- 
nate in  the  selection  of  his  cabinet  officers,  and  the 
reason  was  he  never  allowed  prejudice  to  prevent  his 
placing  a  rival  in  high  office. 

Yes,  Mr.  Lincoln  is  X)robably  the  most  remarkable 
example  on  the  pages  of  history,  showing  the  possibili- 
ties of  our  country.  From  the  poverty  in  which  he  was 
born,  through  the  rowdyism  of  a  frontier  town,  the  rude- 
ness of  frontier  society,  the  discouragement  of  early 
bankruptcy,  and  the  fluctuations  of  popular  politics,  he 
rose  to  the  championship  of  Union  and  freedom  when 


FROM  OBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.         327 

the  two  seemed  utterly  an  impossibility;  never  lost  his 
faith  when  both  seemed  hopeless,  and  was  suddenly 
snatched  from  earth  when  both  were  secured.  He  was 
the  least  jDretentious  of  men,  and  when,  with  the  speed 
of  electricity,  it  flashed  over  the  Union  that  the  great 
Lincoln — shot  by  an  assassin — was  no  more,  the  excite- 
ment was  tremendous.  The  very  heart  of  the  republic 
throbbed  with  pain  and  lamentation.  Then  the  immor- 
tal President  was  borne  to  his  last  resting-place  in 
Springfield,  Illinois.  All  along  the  journey  to  the  grave, 
over  one  thousand  miles,  a  continual  wail  went  up  from 
friends  innumerable,  and  they  would  not  be  comforted. 
Never  was  there  a  grander,  yet  more  solemn  funeral 
accorded  to  any,  ancient  or  modern.  He  was  a  states- 
man without  a  statesman's  craftiness,  politician  without 
a  politician's  meanness,  a  great  man  without  a  great 
man's  vices,  a  philanthropist  without  a  philanthropist's 
dreams,  a  christian  without  pretensions,  a  ruler  without 
the  pride  of  place  or  power,  an  ambitious  man  without 
selfishness,  and  a  successful  man  without  vanity.  Hum- 
ble man  of  the  backwoods,  boatman,  axman,  hired 
laborer,  clerk,  surveyor,  captain,  legislator,  lawyer,  de- 
bater, orator,  politician,  statesman.  President,  savior 
of  the  republic^  emancipator  of  a  race,  true  christian, 
true  man. 

Gaze  on  such  a  character;  does  it  not  thrill  your  very 
soul  and  cause  your  very  heart  to  bleed  that  such  a  man 
should  be  shot  by  a  dastardly  assassin?  Yet  on  the  14th 
of  April,  1865,  J.  Wilkes  Booth  entered  the  private  box 
of  the  President,  and  creeping  stealthily  from  behind, 
as  become  the  dark  deed  which  he  contemplated,  delib- 
erately shot  Abraham  Lincoln  through  the  head,  and  the 
country  lost  the  pilot  in  the  hours  when  she  needed  him 
so  much. 


o 


28  HIDDEN   TREASURES. 


Edward  Everett, 


AMONG  the  more  eminent  of  eminent  men  stands 
Edward  Everett  in  the  annals  of  American  history. 
We  do  not  give  his  history  to  show  how  he  struggled 
through  privations,  overcoming  all  obstacles,  until 
victory  at  last  crowned  his  efforts,  as  so  many  of  our 
great  men  have  been  obliged  to  do,  but  we  do  delineate 
his  achievements  to  illustrate  what  hard  work  will  do, 
provided  a  man  has  ability  to  develop.  Yes,  to  show 
what  hard  work  will  do.  But  some  will  say, '  Well,  that 
does  sound  well,  but  I  guess  if  Edward  Everett  had  been 
^n  ordinary  man  no  amount  of  hard  work  would  have 
made  him  the  Edward  Everett  of  history';  another  may 
say,  ^That's  so,  it  is  foolish  to  argue  as  you  do,  and  hold 
up  such  men  as  examples,  intimating  that  their  success 
is  the  result  of  hard  work';  and*still  another  may  say, 
*  Say  what  you  will,  you  cannot  gainsay  the  factor  of 
opportunities,  of  'luck,'  if  you  choose  to  so  designate  it." 
We  do  not  gain-say  anj^tlii ng;  we  simply  point  to 
history;  read  for  yourself.  Take  eminent  men,  read 
their  lives,  and  see  if  seven-tenths,  at  least,  of  our  great 
men  did  not  acquire  success  through  their  own 
effort.  Read  carefully  and  see  if  they  did  not 
largely  make  their  own  opportunities.  True,  all 
cannot  be  Everetts  or  Clays,  but  by  extraordinary 
effort  and  careful  thought,  any  one  will  better  his 
or  her  condition.  Sickness  may  come,  they  will  be  the 
better  prepared.     Losses  will  be  more  easily  met  and 


FROM  OBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.         329 

discharged.  No  man  ever  succeeded  by  waiting  for 
sometiiing  to  turn  up.  The  object  of  this  work  is  not  to 
make  people  delude  themselves  by  any  conceited  ideas, 
but  to  encourage,  to  inspire,  to  enkindle  anew  the  fires 
of  energy  laying  dormant.  The  point  is,  it  is  not  a 
^  slumbering  genius '  within  people  that  it  is  our  desire 
to  stimulate,  but  a  '  slumbering  energy.'  We  are  content 
that  others  should  take  care  of  the  'genius^;  we  are  sat- 
isfied that  any  influence,  no  matter  from  what  source 
it  comes,  that  will  awaken  dormant  energies  will  do  the 
world  more  good  than  ten  times  the  same  amount  of  in- 
fluence trying  to  iDrove  that  we  are  fore  ordained  to  be 
somebody  or  nobody. 

Mr.  Everett  was  a  man  who  fully  comprehended  and 
appreciated  this  fact.  All  great  men  understand  that  it 
is  the  making  the  most  of  one's  talents  that  makes  the 
most  of  our  chances  which  absolutely  tells.  Eufus 
Choate  believed  in  hard  work.  When  some  one  said  to 
him  that  a  certain  fine  achievement  was  the  result  of 
accident,  he  exclaimed:  "Nonsense.  You  might  as 
well  drop  the  Greek  alphabet  on  the  ground  and  expect 
to  pick  up  the  lUiad."  Mr.  Beecher  has  well  said  that 
every  idle  man  has  to  be  supported  by  some  industrious 
man.  Hard  labor  prevents  hard  luck.  Fathers  should 
teach  their  children  that  if  any  one  will  not  work  neither 
shall  he  attain  success.  Let  us  magnify  our  calling  and 
be  happy,  but  strive  to  progress.  As  before  said,  Mr. 
Everett  fully  understood  all  this  and  great  men  innu- 
merable could  be  quoted  in  support  of  this  doctrine. 

The  year  1794  must  ever  be  memorable,  as  the  year 
in  which  Mr.  Everett  was  ushered  into  the  world,  in 
which  he  was  to  figure  as  so  prominent  a  factor.  We 
have  written  a  long  preamble,  but  it  is  hoped  that  the 


3B0  HIDDEN   TREASURES. 

reader  has  taken  enough  interest  thus  far  to  fully  take 
in  the  points  which  we  have  endeavored  to  make,  and  it 
is  further  hoped  that  such  being  the  case,  the  reader  will, 
by  the  light  of  those  ideas,  read  and  digest  the  wonder- 
ful character  before  us. 

Undoubtedly  Everett  possessed  one  of  the  greatest 
minds  America  has  ever  produced,  but  if  he  had  rivaled 
Solomon  in  natural  ability,  he  could  not  have  entered 
Harvard  College  as  a  student  at  the  age  of  thirteen  had 
he  not  been  an  indefatigable  worker,  and  will  any  man 
delude  himself  into  the  belief  that  he  could  have  gradu- 
ated from  such  a  school  at  the  age  of  only  seventeen,  and 
at  the  head  of  his  class,  had  he  not  exercised  tremendous 
energy.  Still  further  do  any  of  the  readers  who  chance 
to  read  this  volume  think  that  he  was  picked  up  bodily 
and  placed  in  the  ministerial  chair  vacated  by  the  gifted 
Buckminister  w^hen  he  was  only  nineteen  because  he 
was  lucky?  A  city  preacher  at  nineteen!  Occupying 
one  of  the  first  pulpits  in  the  land  at  nineteen !  ''Why, 
he  was  gifted."  Of  course  he  was,  and  he  was  a  tremen- 
dous worker.     Thus  was  his  success  enhanced. 

At  twenty  he  was  appointed  to  a  Greek  professorship 
in  Harvard  College,  and  qualified  himself  by  travel  in 
Europe  for  four  years.  During  that  time  he  acquired 
that  solid  information  concerning  the  history  and  prin- 
ciples of  law,  and  of  the  political  systems  of  Europe, 
which  formed  the  foundation  of  that  broad  statesman- 
ship for  which  he  was  afterward  distinguished.  During 
his  residence  in  Europe  his  range  of  study  embraced  the 
ancient  classics,  the  modern  languages,  the  history  and 
principles  of  the  civil  and  public  law,  and  a  comprehen- 
sive examination  of  the  existing  political  sj^stems  of 
Europe.     He  returned  home,  and  from  that  time  until 


FROM  OBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.         331 

Ms  death  he  was  recognized  as  one  of  the  greatest 
orators  of  his  time.  In  1825  to  1835  he  was  a  distin- 
guished member  of  the  national  congress.  He  then 
served  three  successive  terms  as  governor  of  Massachu- 
setts. In  1814  he  was  appointed  minister  to  the  English 
court.  It  was  an  important  mission,  for  the  relations  of 
his  government  with  that  of  England,  then  wore  a  grave 
aspect.  His  official  career  in  London  was  a  marked  suc- 
cess. His  personal  accomplishments  made  him  a  friend 
and  favorite  with  the  leading  men  and  families  of  Eng- 
land. After  this  he  was  sent  as  a  commissioner  to  China, 
and  after  his  return  from  abroad,  he  was  at  once  chosen 
President  of  Harvard  College. 

He  entered  upon  the  duties  of  this  new  office  with 
his  characteristic  energy  and  enthusiasm,  but  ill-health 
compelled  his  resignation  at  the  end  of  three  years. 
Upon  the  death  of  his  bosom  friend,  Daniel  Webster,  he 
was  appointed  to  succeed  to  Webster's  position  at  the  head 
of  President  Fillmore's  cabinet.  Before  the  close  of  his 
duties  as  Secretary  of  State,  he  was  chosen  by  the  Mas- 
sachusetts State  Legislature  to  a  seat  in  the  National 
Senate.  Once  more  overwork  compelled  his  withdrawal 
from  active  responsibility,  and  in  May,  1854,  under  the 
advice  of  his  physician,  he  resigned  his  seat.  But  he 
was  content  to  remain  idle  only  a  few  months  when  he 
entered  with  great  zeal  upon  a  new  enterprise. 

The  project  of  purchasing  Mount  Yernon  and  beauti- 
fying it  as  a  memento  of  esteem  to  the  *  Nation's  father' 
attracted  his  attention,  and  his  efforts  in  behalf  of  the 
association  to  raise  money  for  the  above-named  object 
netted  over  $100,000,  besides  his  valuable  time,  and  pay- 
ing his  own  expenses.  He  afterwards  raised  many  more 
thousands  of  dollars  for  the  benefit  of  numerous  chari- 


332  HIDDEN    TREASURES. 

table  societies  and  objects.  Emerging  from  private  life 
at  the  opening  of  the  civil  war  he  gave  himself  inces- 
santl}^  to  the  defense  of  the  Union.  He  died  on  the  14th 
of  January,  1865,  and  was  mourned  throughout  the 
whole  North.  Eulogies  innumerable  were  called  forth, 
by  the  death  of  this  intellectual  phenom-cnon  of  the 
nineteenth  century. 


Edwin  M.  Stanton. 


EDWm  M.  STANTON,  whom  President  Lincoln 
selected  for  his  Secretary  of  War,  notwithstanding 
the  fact  that  he  had  served  in  the  cabinet  of  Buchanan, 
was  born  at  Steubenville,  Ohio,  December  19th,  1814,  and 
died  in  Washington,  D.  C,  December  24th,  1869. 

When  fifteen  years  old  he  became  a  clerk  in  a  book- 
store in  his  native  town,  and  with  money  thus  accumu- 
lated, was  enabled  to  attend  Kenyon  College,  but  at  the 
end  of  two  years  was  obliged  to  re-enter  the  book-store 
as  a  clerk. 

Thus  through  poverty  he  was  deterred  from  graduating, 
but  knowledge  is  just  as  beneficial,  whether  acquired  in 
school  or  out.  Thurlow  Weed  never  had  the  advantages 
of  a  college,  but  stretched  prone  before  the  sap-house 
fire,  he  laid  the  foundation  upon  which  he  built  that 
splendid  reputation  as  an  able  editor ;  Elihu  Buritt  never 
saw  the  inside  of  a  college  school-room  as  a  student,  but 
while  at  the  anvil,  at  work  as  a  blacksmith,  with  book 
laying  on  a  desk  near,  he  framed  the  basis  of  that  classi- 


FROM  OBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.         333 

cal  learning  which  made  him,  as  master  of  forty  different 
languages,  the  esteemed  friend  of  John  Bright  and  others 
of  the  most  noted  people  the  world  has  ever  known. 

As  it  was  with  them,  so  it  was  with  Stanton.  He  had 
but  little  advantages,  but  he  would  not  ^down.'  It  is 
said  that  if  Henry  Ward  Beech^r  had  gone  to  sea,  as  he 
desired  to  do,  he  would  not  have  long  remained,  for  in 
him  was  even  then  a  'slumbering  genius.'  But  he  him- 
self once  said  that  had  it  not  been  for  his  great  love  of 
work  he  never  could  have  half  succeeded.  Ah,  that's  it ; 
if  ability  to  accomplish  hard  'digging'  is  not  genius,  it- 
is  the  best  possible  substitute  for  it.  A  man  may  have 
in  him  a  'slumbering  genius,'  but  unless  he  put  forth 
the  energy,  his  efforts  will  be  spasmodic,  ill-timed  and 
scattered. 

"  Full  many  a  gem,  of  purest  ray  serene 
The  dark,  unfathomed  caves  of  ocean  bear ; 
Full  many  a  flower  is  born  to  blush  unseen, 
And  waste  its  sweetness  on  the  desert  air." 

Young  men,  there  is  truth  hidden  in  these  words, 
despite  what  some  writers  would  make  you  think.  They 
would  argue  that  if  you  are  to  be  a  Milton,  a  Cromwell, 
a  Webster,  or  a  Clay,  that  you  cannot  help  it,  do  what 
you  will.  Possibly,  this  may  be  so ;  it  may  not  be 
thought  proper  for  me  to  dispute  their  lordship,  but  it 
does  seem  to  me  that  such  arguments  can  give  but  little 
hope  ;  if  they  have  influence  at  all  it  cannot  be  an  in- 
spiring one.  No,  never  mind  the  reputation ;  never  pine 
to  bie  a  Lincoln,  or  a  Garfield,  but  if  you  feel  that  your 
chances  in  youth  are  equal  to  theirs,  take  courage— work. 

If  you  are  a  farmer  strive  to  excel  all  the  surround- 
ing farmers.  If  a  boot-black,  make  up  your  mind  to 
monopolize  the  business  on  your  block.  Faculty  to  do 
this  is  th^.  'best  possible  substitute  for  a  slumbering 


334  HIDDEN   TREASURES. 

genius/  If  perchance  yon  should  lack  that '  most  essen- 
tial faculty  to  success.'  At  any  rate,  never  wait  for  the 
'slumbering  genius' to  show  itself, — if  you  do,  it  will 
never  awake  but  slumber  on  through  endless  time,  and 
leave  you  gro^Ding  on  in  midnight  darkness. 

But  to  return  to  Stanton.  Whether  he  possessed  a 
'slumbering  genius '"does  not  aiDpear,  but  certain  it  is 
that  by  down-right  hard  work  he  gained  a  knowledge 
of  the  law,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1836,  when  in 
his  twenty-first  year.  While  yet  a  young  lawyer  he  was 
made  prosecuting  attorney  of  Harrison  county.  In  1842 
he  was  chosen  reporter  of  the  Ohio  Supreme  Court,  and 
published  three  volumes  of  reports. 

In  1847  he  moved  to  Pittsburgh,  Pennsylvania,  but 
for  nine  years  afterward  retained  his  office  in  Steuben- 
ville,  as  well  as  that  in  Pittsburgh.  In  1857  his  business 
had  so  expanded  that  he  found  it  necessary  to  move  to 
Washington,  D.  C,  the  seat  of  the  United  States  Supreme 
Court.  His  first  appearance  before  the  United  States 
Supreme  Court  was  in  defence  of  the  State  of  Pennsyl- 
vania against  the  Wheeling  and  Belmont  Bridge  Com- 
pany, and  thereafter  his  practice  rapidly  increased. 

In  1858  he  was  employed  by  the  national  government 
as  against  the  government  of  Mexico  on  land  titles,  deeds, 
etc.  This  great  legal  success,  together  with  several 
others,  won  for  him  a  national  reputation.  It  has  been 
stated  by  one  of  the  leading  jurists  in  the  United  States 
that  the  cause  of  nine  out  of  ten  of  the  failures  in  the 
legal  profession  is  laziness,  so  common  in  lawyers , 
after  being  admitted  to  the  bar.  Once  in,  they  seem 
to  think  that  they  have  but  to  'sit  and  wait'  for 
business.  Possibly  their  eye  has,  at  one  time  or  another, 
caught  those  sentiments  so  dear  to  some  writers  in  regard 


FROM  OBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.         335  *"' 

to  Hlie  slumbering  genius.'  Be  that  as  it  may,  it  is  very 
evident  that  Stanton  had  never  been  idle,  and  was  seldom 
obliged  to  ^ refer  to  his  library' before  answering  ques- 
tions in  relation  to  the  law. 

.  He  was  called  to  the  high  position  of  attorney-general 
in  President  Buchanan's  cabinet,  and  on  January  11th, 
1862,  nine  months  after  the  inauguration  of  Lincoln,  he 
was  placed  in  the  most  responsible  position  in  his  cabi- 
net at  that  time,— Secretary  of  War.  His  labors  in  this 
department  were  indefatigable,  and  many  of  the  most 
important  and  successful  movements  of  the  war  origin- 
ated with  him.  Never,  perhaps,  was  there  a  more  illus- 
trious example  of  the  right  man  in  the  right  iDlace.  It 
seemed  almost  as  if  it  were  a  special  Provincial  interposi- 
tion to  incline  the  President  to  go  out  of  his  own  party 
and  select  this  man  for  this  most  responsible  of  all  trusts, 
save  his  own. 

With  an  unflinching  force,  an  imperial  will,  a  courage 
never  once  admitting  the  possibility  of  failure,  and  hav- 
ing no  patience  with  cowards,  compromisers  or  self- 
seekers  ;  with  the  most  jealous  patriotism  he  displaced 
the  incompetent  and  exacted  brave,  mighty,  endeavor  of 
all,  yet  only  like  what  he  exacted  of  himself.  He  reor- 
ganized the  war  with  Herculean  toil.  Through  all 
those  long  years  of  war  he  thought  of,  saw,  labored  for 
one  end — victory.  The  amount  of  work  he  does  in 
some  of  these  critical  months  was  absolutely/  amazing  by 
its  comprehension  of  details,  the  solution  of  vexed  ques- 
tions, the  mastery  of  formidable  difficulties,  wonder  was 
it  his  word  sometimes  cut  like  a  sharp,  quick  blow,  or 
that  the  stroke  of  his  pen  was  sometimes  like  a  thunder- 
bolt. It  was  not  the  time  for  hesitation,  or  doubt,  or 
even  argument.    He  meant  his  imperiled  country  should 


6  HIDDEN    TREASURES. 


be  saved,  and  whatever  by  lialf-loyalt3^  or  self-seeking 
seemed  to  stand  in  the  way  only  attracted  the  lightning 
of  his  power. 

The  nation  owes  as  much  to  him  as  to  any  one  who 
in  council  or  in  field  contributed  to  its  salvation.  And 
his  real  greatness  was  never  more  conspicuous  than  at 
the  time  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  assassination.  His  presence 
of  mind,  his  prompt  decision,  his  unfailing  faith  and 
courage  strengthened,  those  about  him,  and  prevented 
the  issue  of  a  frightful  panic  and  disorder  following  that 
unexpected  assault  upon  the  life  of  the  republic.  To 
have  equipped,  fed,  clothed  and  organized  a  million  and 
a-half  of  soldier}^,  and  when  their  work  was  done  in  two 
days,  to  have  remanded  them  back  to  the  peaceful  indus- 
tries from  which  they  had  been  called  ;  to  have  had  the 
nation's  wealth  at  his  disposal,  and  yet  so  incorruptible 
that  hundreds  of  millions  could  pass  through  his  hands 
and  leave  him  a  poor  man  at  the  end  of  his  commission, 
shattered  in  health,  yet  from  necessity  obliged  to  resume 
his  legal  practice,  must  for  all  time  rank  him  among  the 
world'  s  phenomena.  Such  a  man,  so  true,  so  intent 
upon  great  objects  must  many  a  time  have  thwarted  the 
greed  of  the  corrupt,  been  impatient  with  the  hesitation 
of  the  imbecile,  and  fiercely  indignant  against  half- 
heartedness  and  disloyalty.  Whatever  faults,  therefore, 
his  enemies  may  allege,  these  will  all  fade  away  in  the 
splendor  with  which  coming  ages  will  ennoble  the  greatest 
of  war  ministers  in  the  nineteenth  century.  He  will  be 
remembered  as  "one  who  never  thought  of  self,  and  who 
held  the  helm  in  sunshine  and  in  storm  with  the  same 
untiring  grip." 

Nor  were  his  services  less  valual^le  to  his  country 

when,  after  the  surrender  of  the  Confederate  armies,  the 
21 


FEOM  OBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.         337 

rebellion  was  transferred  to  the  White  House,  and  he 
stood  the  fearless,  unflinching  patriot  against  the 
schemes  and  usurpations  of  its  accidental  occupant.  Mr. 
Stanton  entered  on  his  great  trust  in  the  fullest  prime 
of  manhood,  equal,  seemingly,  to  any  possible  toil  and 
strain.  He  left  his  department  incurably  shorn  of  health. 
He  entered  upon  it  in  affluence,  with  a  large  and  remu- 
nerative practice.  He  left  it  without  a  stain  on  his 
hands,  but  with  his  fortune  lessened  and  insufficient. 
Yet,  when  it  was  contemplated  by  some  of  his  friends, 
after  his  retirement,  to  tender  him  a  handsome  gift  of 
money,  he  resolutely  and  unhesitatingly  forbade  it,  and 
the  project  had  to  be  abandoned.  He  was  as  truly  a 
sacrifice  to  his  country  as  was  the  brave  soldier  who  laid 
down  his  life  in  the  prison-pen  or  sanctified  the  field  with 
his  blood.  For  an  unswerving  and  passionate  patriot^ 
ism,  for  a  magnificent  courage,  for  rare  unselfishness,  foi 
transcendent  abilities,  for  immeasurable  services  to  his 
country;  the  figure  of  the  greatest  war  minister  in 
modern  times  will  tower  with  a  noble  grandeur,  as  un- 
dimmed  and  enviable  a  splendor  as  that  of  any  in  the 
history  of  the  Republic;  which,  like  his  friend  and  co- 
worker, the  great  Lincoln,  he  gave  his  life  to  save. 


-^^ 


338  HIDDEN   TREASURES. 


Andrew  Johnson. 


THE  life-career  of  the  seventeenth  president  of  the 
United  States  well  illustrates  the  spirit  and  genius 
of  our  free  institutions.  Four  of  the  incumbents  of  the 
national  executive  chair  were  born  in  North  Carolina. 
Of  these,  the  subject  of  this  sketch  was  one,  being  born 
in  the  above-named  State,  December  29th,  1808. 

His  father,  who  died  in  1812,  was  sexton  of  a  church 
and  porter  in  the  State  bank.  Extreme  poverty  prevented 
Andrew  from  receiving  any  schooling,  and  at  the  age  of 
ten  he  was  apprenticed  to  a  tailor.  A  gentleman  was  in 
the  habit  of  visiting  the  shop  and  reading  to  the  work- 
men, generally  from  the  ^American  Speaker.'  Andrew 
became  intensely  interested,  especially  in  the  extracts 
from  the  speeches  of  Pitt  and  Fox.  He  determined  to 
learn  to  read,  and  having  done  this  he  devoted  all  his 
leisure  hours  to  the  perusal  of  such  books  as  he  could 
obtain.  In  the  summer  of  1824,  a  few  months  before  his 
apprenticeship  expired,  he  got  into  trouble  by  throwing 
stones  at  an  old  woman's  house,  and  ran  away  to  escape 
the  consequences.  He  went  to  Lauren's  Court  House, 
South  Carolina,   and  obtained  work  as  a  journeyman 

tailor. 

In  May,  1826,  he  returned  to  Ealeigh.  Mr.  Selby,  his 
former  employer,  had  moved  into  the  country,  and  John- 
son walked  twenty  miles  to  see  him,  apologized  for  his 
misdemeanor  and  promised  to  pay  him  for  his  unful- 
filled time.  Selby  required  security,  which  Johnson 
could  not  furnish,  and  he  went  away  disappointed.    In 


FROM  OBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.         339 

September  he  went  to  Tennessee,  taking  with  him  his 
mother,  who  was  dependent  upon  him  for  support.  He 
worked  a  year  at  Greenville  when  he  married,  and  finally 
settled,  deciding  to  make  that  town  his  home. 

Thus  far  his  education  had  been  confined  to  reading ; 
but  now,  under  the  tuition  of  his  wife,  he  learned  to 
^  write  and  cipher.'  During  this  time  he  became  promi- 
nent in  a  local  debating  society,  formed  of  resident  young 
men  and  students  of  Greenville  College.  One  student 
says  ;  "On  approachng  the  village  there  stood  on  the  hill 
by  the  highway  a  solitary  little  house,  perhaps  ten  feet 
square, — we  invariably  entered  when  passing.  It  con- 
tained a  bed,  two  or  three  stools,  and  a  tailor's  platform. 
We  delighted  to  stop  because  one  lived  here  whom  we 
knew  well  outside  of  school  and  made  us  welcome ;  one 
who  would  amuse  us  by  his  social  good  nature,  taking 
more  than  ordinary  interest  in  us,  and  caterins^  to  our 
pleasure," 

Mr.  Johnson,  taking  an  interest  in  local  politics,  or- 
ganized a  workingman's  party  in  1828,  to  oppose  the 
*  aristocrat  element,'  which  had  always  ruled  the  town. 
Considerable  excitement  ensued,  and  Johnson  was  elected 
an  alderman  by  a  large  majority.  He  rose  to  be  mayor, 
member  of  the  State  legislature,  and  a  represent- 
ative in  Congress,  holding  the  last  office  for  ten  years. 

In  1853  he  was  elected  governor,  and  re-elected 
in  1855.  The  contest  was  exciting,  and  violence  and 
threats  of  murder  were  frequent.  At  one  meeting 
Johnson  appeared  with  pistol  in  his  hand,  laid  it  on  the 
desk,  and  said :  "  Fellow-citizens,  I  have  been  informed 
that  part  of  the  business  to  be  transacted  on  the  present 
occasion  is  the  assassination  of  the  individual  who  now 
has  the  honor  of  addressing  you.    I  beg  respectfully  to 


340  HIDDEN    TREASURES. 

propose  that  this  be  the  first  business  in  order :  therefore, 
if  any  man  has  come  here  to-night  for  the  purpose  in- 
dicated, I  do  not  say  to  him  let  him  speak,  but  let  him 
shoot."  After  pausing  for  a  moment,  with  his  hand  on 
his  pistol,  he  said,  "  Gentlemen,  it  appears  that  I  have 
been  misinformed.  I  will  now  proceed  to  address  you- 
upon  the  subject  that  has  brought  us  together." 

Mr.  Johnson's  next  office  was  as  a  member  of  the 
national  Senate,  where  he  ably  urged  the  passage  of  a 
bill  granting  to  every  settler  160  acres  of  public  land. 
When  Tennessee  passed  the  ordinance  of  secession  he 
remained  steadfast  for  the  Union.    Although  a  Demo- 
crat, he  had  opposed  many  of  their  measures  in  the 
interest  of    slavery,   and  now  gravitated    toward   the 
Eepublican  party.    In  nearly  every  city  of   his  native 
State  he  was  burned  in  effigy;  at  one  time  a  mob  entered 
a  railroad  train  on  which  he  was  known  to  be   and 
attempted  to  take  him,  but  he  met  them  with  a  pistol  in 
each  hand,  and  drove  them  steadily  before  him  off  the 
train.     His  loyal  sentiments,  his  efforts  to  aid  Union 
refugees,  and  the  persecution  he  received  at  home  com- 
mended him  to  the  North.    In  1862  he  was  appointed 
millitary  governor  of  Tennessee,  in  which  position  he 
upheld  the  Federal  cause  with  great  ability  and  zeal.  In 
the  winter  of  1861-2  large  numbers  of  Unionists  were 
driven  from  their  homes  in  East  Tennessee,  who  sought 
refuge  in  Kentucky.    Mr.  Johnson  met  them  there,  re- 
lieved the  immediate  wants  of  many  from-  his  own  purso 
and  used  his  influence  with  the  national  government  for 
the  establishment  of  a  camp  where  these  refugees  found 
shelter,  food  and  clothing,  and  were  to  a  large  extent 
organized  into  companies  and  mustered  into  the  national 
service.    His  own  wife  and  child  were  turned  out  of  their 


FROM  OBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.         841 

home  and  his  property  confiscated.  All  through  his  duties 
as  military  governor  of  Tennessee  Johnson  displayed 
great  ability  and  discharged  the  duties  of  his  office  fear- 
lessly, amid  eminent  personal  peril. 

On  June  7th,  1864,  the  Republican  convention  held  at 
Baltimore,  having  re-nominated  Mr.  Lincoln,  chose  Mr. 
Johnson  for  the  second  place  on  their  ticket.  They  were 
inaugurated  March  4th,  and  April  14th  the  President  was 
assassinated,  and  within  three  hours  after  Lincoln  expired 
Andrew  Johnson  was  president  of  the  United  States. 

Soon  after  his  inauguration  as  President  of  the  United 
States,  in  the  course  of  a  speech  on  the  condition  of  the 
country  he  declared,  "the  people  must  understand  that 
treason  is  the  blackest  of  crimes,  and  will  surely  be 
punished."  Now  follows  the  strangei^t  scenes  imaginable, 
coming  from  such  a  man  as  he  had  always,  until  now, 
proved  himself  to  be.  As  this  part  of  ex-President 
Johnson's  life  has  been  given  great  prominence,  we  for- 
bear to  speak  further  in  relation  to  it.  We  are  constrained, 
however,  to  say  that  it  was  sad  to  see  a  man,  thus  late  in 
life,  destroying  in  a  few  months  a  good  character,  as  a 
citizen,  and  reputation  as  an  able  statesman,  which  he 
had  been  so  many  years  building,  and  in  which  he  had 
so  eminently  succeeded.  In  1866  the  University  of  North 
Carolina  conferred  upon  him  the  degree  of  LL.D. 

On  the  31st  of  July,  1875,  this  wonderful  man,  who 
had  riven  from  the  tailor's  bench,  to  the  hightest  place 
within  the  gift  of  a  great  nation,  then  to  be  disgraced 
and  vanquished  at  his  own  bidding,  died  a  disappointed 
man. 


342  HIDDEN    TREASURES. 


James  A.  Garfield, 


OUR  country  probably  never  produced  a  character 
more  perfectly  rounded,  physically,  intellectually 
and  morally  than  that  which  is  presented  to  us  in  the 
person  of  James  A.  Garfield,  who  was  born  in  a  log  cabin 
in  Cuyahoga  county,  Ohio,  iSTovember  19th,  1831. 

His  childhood  was  passed  in  almost  complete  isola- 
tion from  social  influences,  save  those  which  proceeded 
from  his  mother.  His  father  had  died  when  James  was 
only  eighteen  months  old,  and  when  old  enough  to  be  of 
any  use  he  was  put  to  work  on  the  farm.  The  family 
was  very  poor,  and  his  services  were  needed  to  help  'make 
both  ends  meet.'  At  school,  as  a  little  boy,  he  allowed 
no  one  to  impose  upon  him.  He  is  said  to  have  never 
picked  a  quarrel,  but  was  sure  to  resent  any  indignity 
with  effect,  no  matter  how  large  a  boy  the  offender  hap- 
pened to  be.  He  attended  school  during  the  cold  months 
when  it  was  impossible  to  be  of  value  on  the  farm;  sum- 
mers he  generally  'worked  out,'  at  one  time  being  a  driver- 
boy  on  the  canal. 

He  attended  school  at  the  Geauga  Seminary,  where 
he  got  through  his  first  term  on  the  absurdly  small  sum 
of  seventeen  dollars.  When  he  returned  to  school  the 
next  term  he  had  but  a  six  pence  in  his  pocket,  and  this 
he  dropped  into  the  contribution  box  the  next  day  at 
church.  He  made  an  arrangement  with  a  carpenter  in 
the  village  to  board  with  him,  and  have  his  washing,  fuel 
and  light  furnished  for  one  dollar  and  six  cents  per  week. 


FROM  OBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.         343 

The  carpenter  was  building  a  house,  and  Garfield  en- 
gaged to  help  him  nights  and  Saturdays.  The  first  Sat- 
urday he  planed  fifty-one  boards,  and  thereby  made  one 
dollar  and  two  cents.  So  the  term  went,  and  he  re- 
turned home,  having  earned  his  expenses  and  and  three 

DOLLARS    OVER. 

The  following  winter  he  taught  school  at  $12  a  month 
and  'boarded  around.'  In  the  spring  he  had  $48,  and  when 
he  returned  to  school  he  boarded  himself  at  an  expense  of 
thirty-one  cents  a  week.  Heretofore,  he  had  supposed  a 
college  course  beyond  him,  but  meeting  a  college  graduate 
who  explained  that  it  was  barely  possible  for  a  poor  boy 
to  graduate,  if  he  worked  and  attended  alternate  years, 
he  determined  to  try  it.  After  careful  calculation  Gar- 
field concluded  he  could  get  through  school  within 
TWELVE  YEARS.  Hc  accordingly  began  to  lay  his  plans 
to  graduate.  Think  of  such  determination,  dear  reader, 
and  then  see  if  you  can  reasonably  envy  the  position 
attained  by  Garfield.  He  appeared  as  a  scholar  at  Hiram, 
a  new  school  of  his  own  denomination,  in  1851.  Here 
he  studied  all  the  harder,  as  he  now  had  an  object  in 
life.  Returning  home  he  taught  a  school,  then  returned 
to  college,  and  attended  the  spring  term.  During  the 
summer  he  helped  build  a  house  in  the  village,  he  him- 
self planing  all  the  lumber  for  the  siding,  and  shingling 
the  roof.  Garfield  was  now  quite  a  scholar,  especially 
in  the  languages,  and  upon  his  return  to  Hiram  he  was 
made  a  tutor,  and  thenceforward  he  worked  both  as  a 
pupil  and  teacher,  doing  a  tremendous  amount  of  work 
to  fit  himself  for  college.  When  he  came  to  Hiram  he 
started  on  the  preparatory  course,  to  enter  college,  ex- 
pecting it  would  take  four  years.  Deciding  now  to  enter 
some  eastern  institution,  he  wrote  a  letter  to  the  presi- 


344  HIDDEN   TREASURES. 

dent  of  each  of  the  leading  colleges  in  the  east,  telling 
them  how  far  he  had  progressed.  They  all  replied  that 
he  could  enter  the  junior  year,  and  thus  graduate  in  two 
years  from  his  entrance.  He  had  accomplished  the  pre- 
paratory course,  generally  requiring  four  solid  years,  and 
had  advanced  two  years  on  his  college  course.  He  had 
crowded  six  years  into  three,  beside  supporting  himselt 
If  ever  a  man  was  worthy  of  success  Garfield  was.  He 
decided  to  enter  Williams  College,  where  he  graduated 
in  1856,  thus  came  that  institution  to  grasp  the  honor  of 
giving  to  the  United  States  of  America  one  of  our  most 
popular  presidents.  The  grasp  of  the  mind  of  Garfield, 
e\en  at  this  early  period,  can  be  seen  by  glancing  at  the 
title  of  his  essay,  ''The  Seen  and  the  Unseen."  He  next 
became  a  professor ;  later,  principal  of  the  college  at 
Hiram. 

In  the  old  parties  Garfield  had  little  interest,  but 
when  the  Republican  party  was  formed  he  became 
deeply  interested,  and  became  somewhat  noted  as  a 
stump  orator  for  Fremont  and  Dayton.  In  1860  he  was 
sent  to  the  State  senate,  and  while  there  began  prepara- 
tion for  the  legal  profession,  and  in  1861  was  admitted 
to  the  bar.  The  war  broke  out  about  this  time,  which 
prevented  his  opening  an  office,  and  he  was  commissioned 
a  colonel,  finally  a  major-general,  His  career  in  the 
army  was  brief,  but  very  brilliant,  and  he  returned  home 
to  go  to  Congress.  In  Washington  his  legislative  career 
was  very  successful.  He  proved  to  be  an  orator  of  no 
mean  degree  of  ability,  his  spendid  education  made  him 
an  acknowledged  scholar,  and  he  soon  became  known  as 
one  of  the  ablest  debaters  in  Congress,  serving  on  some  of 
the  leading  committees. 

When  Ohio  sent  her  delegation  to  the  Eepublican 


FROM  OBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR,         345 

National  Convention,  of  1880,  pledged  for  Sherman,  Gar- 
Held  was  selected  as  spokesman.  His  speech,  when  he 
presented  the  name  of  John  Sherman,  coming,  as  it  did, 
when  all  was  feverish  excitement,  must  be  acknowl- 
edged as  a  master-piece  of  the  scholary  oratory  of  which 
he  was  master.  Conkling  had  just  delivered  one  in  favor 
of  Grant,  the  effect  of  which  was  wonderful.  The  Grant 
delegates  Spooled'  the  flags,  which  marked  their  seats, 
marched  around  the  aisles  and  cheered  and  yelled  as  if 
they  were  dwellers  in  Bedlam,  just  home  after  a  long  ab- 
sence. Fully  twenty  minutes  this  went  on,  and  Mr. 
Hoar,  the  president  of  the  convention  after  vainly  trying 
to  restore  order  gave  up  in  despair,  sat  down,  and  calmly 
allowed  disorder  to  tire  itself  out. 

At  last  it  ceases,  Ohio  is  called,  a  form  arises  near 
the  center  of  the  middle  aisle,  and  moves  toward  the 
stage  amid  the  clapping  of  thousands  of  hands,  which 
increases  as  General  Garfleld  mounts  the  same  platform 
upon  which  Senator  Conkling  has  so  lately  stood.  In 
speaking  he  is  not  so  restless  as  was  Conkling,  but  speak- 
ing deliberately  he  appeals  to  the  judgment  of  the 
masses,  as  follows : 

"Mr.  President:  I  have  witnessed  the  extraordinary 
scenes  of  this  convention  with  deep  solicitude.  No 
emotion  touches  my  heart  more  quickly  than  a  senti- 
ment in  honor  of  a  great  and  noble  character.  But,  as  I 
sat  on  these  seats  and  witnessed  these  demonstrations, 
it  seemed  to  me  you  were  a  human  ocean  in  a  tempest. 
I  have  seen  the  sea  lashed  into  a  fury  and  tossed  into  a 
spray,  and  its  grandeur  moves  the  soul  of  the  dullest 
man.  But  I  remember  that  it  is  not  the  billows,  but  the 
calm  level  of  the  sea  from  which  all  heights  and  depthsi 
are  measured.    When  the  storm  had  passed  and  the 


346  HIDDEN    TREASURES. 

hour  of  calm  settles  on  the  ocean,  when  sunlight  bathes 
its  smooth  surface,  then  the  astronomer  and  surve^^or 
takes  the  level  from  which  he  measures  all  terrestrial 
heights  and  depths.  Gentlemen  of  the  convention,  your 
present  temper  may  not  mark  the  healthful  pulse  of  our 
people.  When  our  enthusiasm  has  passed,  when  the 
emotions  of  this  hour  have  subsided,  we  shall  find  the 
calm  level  of  public  opinion  below  the  storm  from  which 
the  thoughts  of  a  mighty  people  are  to  be  measured,  and 
by  which  their  final  action  will  be  determined.  Not 
here,  in  this  brilliant  circle  where  fifteen  thousand  men 
and  women  are  assembled,  is  the  destiny  of  the  Republic 
to  be  decreed;  not  here,  where  I  see  the  enthusiastic 
faces  of  seven  hundred  and  fifty-six  delegates  waiting  to 
cast  their  votes  into  the  urn  and  determine  the  choice 
of  their  party;  but  by  four  million  Republican  firesides, 
where  the  thoughtful  fathers,  with  wives  and  children 
about  them,  with  the  calm  thoughts  inspired  by  love  of 
home  and  love  of  country,  with  the  history  of  the  past, 
the  hopes  of  the  future,  and  the  knowledge  of  the  great 
men  who  have  adorned  and  blessed  our  nation  in  days 
gone  by — there  God  prepares  the  verdict  that  shall 
determine  the  wisdom  of  our  work  to-night.  Not  in 
Chicago  in  the  heat  of  June,  but  in  the  sober  quiet  that 
comes  between  now  and  November,  in  the  silence  of  de- 
liberate judgment  will  this  great  question  be  settled. 
Let  us  aid  them  to-night. 

"But  now,  gentlemen  of  the  convention,  what  do  we 
want?  Bear  with  me  a  moment.  Hear  me  for  this 
cause,  and,  for  a  moment,  be  silent  that  you  may  hear. 
Twenty-five  years  ago  this  Republic  was  wearing  a  triple 
chain  of  bondage.  Long  familiarity  with  traffic  in  the 
bodies  and  souls  of  men  had  paralyzed  the  consciences 


FROM  OBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.         347 

of  a  majority  of  our  people.  The  baleful  doctrine  of 
State  sovereignty  had  shocked  and  weakened  the  noblest 
and  most  beneficent  powers  of  the  national  government, 
and  the  grasping  power  of  slavery  was  seizing  the  virgin 
territories  of  the  West  and  dragging  them  into  the  den 
of  eternal  bondage.  At  that  crisis  the  Republican  party 
was  born.  It  drew  its  first  inspiration  from  that  fire  of 
liberty  which  God  has  lighted  in  every  man's  heart,  and 
which  all  the  powers  of  ignorance  and  tyranny  can  never 
wholly  extinguish.  The  Republican  party  came  to 
deliver  and  save  the  Republic.  It  entered  the  arena 
when  the  beleaguered  and  assailed  territories  were  strug- 
gling for  freedom,  and  drew  around  them  the  sacred 
circle  of  liberty  which  the  demon  of  slavery  has 
never  dared  to  cross.  It  made  them  free  forever. 
Strengthened  by  its  victory  on  the  frontier,  the  young 
party,  under  the  leadership  of  that  great  man  who,  on 
this  spot,  twenty  years  ago,  was  made  its  leader,  entered 
the  national  capitol  and  assumed  the  high  duties  of  the 
government.  The  light  which  shone  from  its  banner 
dispelled  the  darkness  in  which  slavery  had  enshrouded 
the  capitol,  and  melted  the  shackles  of  every  slave,  and 
consumed,  in  the  fire  of  liberty,  every  slave-pen  within 
the  shadow  of  the  capitol.  Our  national  industries,  by 
an  impoverishing  policy,  were  themselves  prostrated,  and 
the  streams  of  revenue  flowed  in  such  feeble  currents 
that  the  treasury  itself  was  well-nigh  empty.  The  money 
of  the  people  was  the  wretched  notes  of  two  thousand 
uncontrolled  and  irresponsible  State  banking  corpora- 
tions, which  were  filling  the  country  with  a  circulation 
that  poisoned  rather  than  sustained  the  life  of  business. 
The  Republican  party  changed  all  this.  It  abolished  the 
babel  of  confusion,  and  gave  the  country  a  currency  as 


348  HIDDEN    TREASURES. 

national  as  its  flag,  based  upon  the  sacred  faith  of  the 
people.  It  threw  its  protecting  arm  around  our  great 
industries,  and  they  stood  erect  as  with  new  life.  It 
filled  with  the  spirit  of  true  nationality  all  the  great 
functions  of  the  government.  It  confronted  a  rebellion 
of  unexampled  magnitude,  with  slavery  behind  it,  and, 
under  God,  fought  the  final  battle  of  liberty  until  victory 
was  won.  Then,  after  the  storms  of  battle,  were  heard 
the  sweet,  calm  words  of  peace  uttered  by  the  conquer- 
ing nation,  and  saying  to  the  conquered  foe  that  lay 
prostrate  at  its  feet :  '  This  is  our  onl)^  refuge,  that  you 
join  us  in  lifting  to  the  serene  firmament  of  the  Consti- 
tution, to  shine  like  stars  for  ever  and  ever,  the  immortal 
principles  of  truth  and  justice,  that  all  men,  w^hite  or 
black,  shall  be  free  and  stand  equal  before  the  law.' 

^'Then  came  the  question  of  reconstruction,  the  pub- 
lic debt,  and  the  public  faith.  In  the  settlement  of  the 
questions  the  Republican  party  has  completed  its  twenty- 
five  years  of  glorious  existence,  and  it  has  sent  us  here 
to  prepare  it  for  another  lustrum  of  duty  and  victory. 
How  shall  we  do  this  great  work  ?  We  cannot  do  it,  my 
friends,  by  assailing  our  Republican  brethren.  God  forbid 
that  I  should  say  one  word  to  cast  a  shadow  upon  any  name 
on  the  roll  of  our  heroes.  This  coming  fight  is  our  Ther- 
mopylae. We  are  standing  upon  a  narrow  isthmus.  If 
our  Spartan  hosts  are  united,  we  can  withstand  all  the 
Persians  that  the  Xerxes  of  Democracy  can  bring  against 
us.  Let  us  hold  our  ground  this  one  year,  for  the  stars 
in  their  courses  fight  for  us  in  the  future.  The  cen- 
sus taken  this  year  will  bring  re-enforcements  and 
continued  power.  But  in  order  to  win  this  victory 
now,  we  want  the  vote  of  every  Republican,  of  every 
Orant  Repnblimn.  and  every  an ti -Grant  Republican  in 


FKUM  UBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.         349 

America,  of  every  Blaine  man  and  every  anti-Blaine 
man.  The  vote  of  every  follov^er  of  every  candi- 
date is  needed  to  make  our  success  certain;  there- 
fore, I  say,  gentlemen  and  brethren,  we  are  here  to 
take  calm  counsel  together,  and  inquire  what  we  shall 
do.  We  want  a  man  whose  life  and  opinions  em- 
body all  the  achievements  of  which  I  have  spoken. 
We  want  a  man  who,  standing  on  a  mountain  height, 
sees  all  the  achievements  of  our  past  history,  and  carries 
in  his  heart  the  memory  of  all  its  glorious  deeds,  and 
who,  looking  forward,  prepares  to  meet  the  labor  and 
the  dangers  to  come.  We  want  one  who  will  act  in  no 
spirit  of  unkindness  toward  those  we  lately  met  in  battle. 
The  Republican  party  offers  to  our  brethren  of  the  South 
the  olive  branch  of  peace,  and  wishes  them  to  return  to 
brotherhood,  on  this  supreme  condition,  that  it  shall  be 
admitted  forever  and  fore  verm  ore,  that,  in  the  war  for 
the  Union,  we  were  right  and  they  were  wrong.  On 
that  supreme  condition  we  meet  them  as  brethren,  and 
on  no  other.  We  ask  them  to  share  with  us  the  bless- 
ings and  honors  of  this  great  republic. 

"Now,  gentlemen,  not  to  weary  you,  I  am  about  to 
present  a  name  for  your  consideration — the  name  of  a 
man  who  was  the  comrade  and  associate  and  friend  of 
nearly  all  those  noble  dead  whose  faces  look  down  upon 
us  from  these  walls  to-night,  a  man  who  began  his  career 
of  public  service  twenty-five  years  ago,  whose  first  duty 
was  courageously  done  in  the  days  of  peril  on  the  plains 
of  Kansas,  when  the  first  red  drops  of  that  bloody  shower 
began  to  fall,  which  finally  swelled  into  the  deluge  of 
war.  He  bravely  stood  by  young  Kansas  then,  and, 
returning  to  his  duty  in  the  National  Legislature,  through 
all  subsequent  time  his  pathway  has  been  marked  by 


350  HIDDEN    TREASURES. 

labors  performed  in  every  department  of  legislation. 
You  ask  for  his  monuments.  I  point  you  to  twenty-five 
years  of  national  statutes.  Not  one  great  beneficent 
statute  has  been  placed  in  our  statute  books  without  his 
intelligent  and  powerful  aid.  He  aided  these  men  to 
formulate  the  laws  that  raised  our  great  armies  and 
carried  us  through  the  war.  His  hand  was  seen  in  the 
workmanship  of  those  statutes  that  restored  and  brought 
back  the  unity  and  married  calm  of  the  States.  His 
hand  was  in  all  that  great  legislation  that  created  the 
war  currency,  and  in  a  still  greater  work  that  redeemed 
the  promises  of  the  Grovernment,  and  made  the  currency 
equal  to  gold.  And  when  at  last  called  from  the  halls  of 
legislation  into  a  high  executive  ofiice,  he  displayed  that 
experience,  intelligence,  firmness  and  poise  of  character 
which  has  carried  us  through  a  stormy  period  of  three 
years.  With  one-half  the  public  press  crying  'crucify 
him,'  and  a  hostile  Congress  seeking  to  prevent  success, 
in  all  this  he  remained  unmoved  until  victory  crowned 
him.  The  great  fiscal  affairs  of  the  nation,  and  the 
great  business  interests  of  the  country  he  has  guarded 
and  preserved  while  executing  the  law  of  resumption 
and  effecting  its  object  without  a  jar  and  against  the 
false  prophecies  of  one-half  of  the  press  and  all  the 
Democracy  of  this  continent.  He  has  shown  himself 
able  to  meet  with  calmness  the  great  emergencies  of  the 
Government  for  twenty-five  years.  He  has  trodden  the 
perilous  heights  of  public  duty,  and  against  all  the  shafts 
of  malice  has  borne  his  breast  unharmed.  He  has  stood 
in  the  blaze  of  ^that  fierce  light  that  beats  against  the 
throne,'  but  its  fiercest  ray  has  found  no  flaw  in  his 
armor,  no  stain  on  his  shield.  I  do  not  present  him  as  a 
better  Republican  or  as  better  man  than  thousands  of 


FROM  OBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.         351 

others  we  honor,  but  I  present  him  for  your  deliberate 
consideration.     I  nominate  John  Sherman,  of  Ohio." 

The  speech  was  over,  its  effect  was  like  oil  upon 
troubled  waters.  When  the  balloting  began  a  single 
delegate  only  voted  for  Garfield.  The  fight  was  between 
Grant,  Blaine,  Sherman  and  Edmunds;  Windom  and 
others  were  waiting  the  possibility  of  a  compromise. 
Garfield  managed  Sherman's  forces.  He  meant  to  keep 
his  favorite  in  the  field,  in  vain  trying  to  win  over 
Blaine's  followers.  On  the  thirty-fourth  ballot  the  Wis- 
consin delegation  determined  to  make  a  break,  and  hence 
put  forth  an  effort  in  an  entirely  new  direction,  casting 
their  entire  seventeen  votes  for  Garfield.  The  General 
arose  and  declined  to  receive  the  vote,  but  the  chairman 
ruled  otherwise,  and  on  the  next  ballot  the  Indiana  dele- 
gation swung  over.  On  the  thirty-sixth  ballot  he  was 
nominated.     Then  followed  his  canvass   and   election. 

Time  flew,  and  he  was  about  to  join  his  old  friends 
at  Williams'  College,  when  an  assassin  stealthily  crept 
up  and  shot  him  from  behind,  as  dastardly  assassins  and 
cowardly  knaves  generally  do.  The  whole  country  was 
thrown  into  a  feverish  heat  of  excitement  between  this 
cowardly  act  and  the  president's  death,  which  occurred 
two  months  later.  Thus,  after  a  struggle  for  recognition, 
which  had  won  the  admiration  of  the  world,  he  was 
snatched  from  the  pleasure  of  enjoying  the  fruits  of  his 
toil,  and  from  the  people  who  needed  his  service.  Like 
Lincoln,  he  had  come  from  the  people,  he  belonged  to 
the  people,  and  by  his  own  right  hand  had  won  the  first 
place  among  fifty  millions  of  people.  Like  Lincoln,  he 
was  stricken  down  when  his  country  expected  the  most 
of  him,  stricken  in  the  very  prime  of  life.  Like  Lincoln, 
when  that  enjoyment    for  which  he  had   labored  was 


352  HIDDEN    TREASURES. 

about  to  crown  his  efforts;  and  like  Lincoln,  it  could  not 
be  said  of  him  he  lived  in  vain. 


Chester  A  Arthur. 


HHESTER  ALLAN  ARTHUR'S  career,  like  that  of 
[Q  thousands  of  other  Americans,  illustrates  the  truth  that 
wealth,  high  social  position  and  all  the  advantages  with 
which  fortune  and  affection  can  surround  the  young  are 
iiot  essential  to  their  success  and  prosperity  in  profes- 
sional, business  or  public  life.  In  fact,  too  often  they 
tend  to  enervate  both  mind  and  body,  and  thus  prove  in 
reality  obstacles  to  attaining  true  and  worthy  manhood. 
Mr.  Arthur,  like  Lincoln,  Grant,  Garfield  and  others 
Who  preceded  him  in  the  presidential  office,  hewed  his 
own  way  upward    and   onward    from  a    discouraging 

beginning. 

He  was  born  in  Fairfield,  Franklin  county,  Vermont^ 

October  5th,  1830.  He  was  the  eldest  son  of  the  Rev. 
William  Arthur,  a  Baptist  clergyman,  having  a  largo 
family  and  a  modest  income.  The  Rev.  Mr.  Arthur  was 
born  in  Ireland,  and  came  to  this  country  when  eighteen 
years  of  age.  He  is  remembered  as  a  man  of  great  force 
of  character,  sturdy  piety  and  a  faithful  and  earnest 
Christian  minister.  He  had  few  worldly  benefits  to  be- 
stow upon  his  children,  but  he  implanted  deep  into  their 
minds  principles  governing  their  actions  which  were 
never  effaced. 
22 


FROM  OBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.         353 

As  a  lad,  Mr.  Arthur  was  trained  in  the  pulblic  schools 
accessible  to  him,  and  by  his  father's  aid,  fitted  himself 
for  college,  entering  Union  when  fifteen  years  old,  and 
graduating  with  high  honors  in  1848.  The  Hon.  Fred- 
erick W.  Seward,  who  was  in  the  class  next  below  young 
Arthur,  says  of  his  school  days :  "  Chet,  as  we  all  called 
him,  was  the  most  popular  boy  in  his  class.  He  was 
always  genial  and  cheerful,  a  good  scholar,  and  apt  in 
debate."  To  aid  in  defraying  his  expenses,  Chester  taught 
country  schools  during  parts  of  two  winters,  but  kept 
pace  with  his  class  while  absent,  showing  his  inde- 
pendence of  spirit,  and  his  zeal  to  acquire  an  education. 

Mr.  Arthur's  preference  turned  toward  the  law,  and 
after  a  course  in  Fowler's  law  school  at  Ballston,  he  went 
to  New  York  city ;  became  a  law  student  in  the  office  of 
Erastus  D.  Culver,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1852. 
Mr.  Culver  showed  his  confidence  in  his  promising  student 
by  taking  him  into  partnership.  Mr.  Culver  was  soon 
elected  civil  judge  of  Brooklyn,  and  the  partnership  was 
dissolved.  Mr.  Arthur  then  formed  a  partnership 
with  Henry  D.  Gardiner,  with  a  view  to  practicing  in 
some  growing  Western  city.  The  young  lawyers  went 
West  and  spent  three  months  in  prospecting  for  a  locality 
to  suit  their  taste,  but  not  finding  it,  they  returned  to 
New  York,  hired  an  office,  and  before  long  had  a  good 
business.  The  most  noted  cases  in  which  Mr.  Arthur 
appeared  in  his  early  career  as  a  lawyer,  were  the  Lem- 
mon  slave  case,  and  the  suit  of  Lizzie  Jennings,  a  fugi- 
tive slave,  whose  liberty  he  secured,  and  a  colored  lady, 
a  superintendent  of  a  Sunday-School  for  colored  children, 
who  was  ejected  from  a  Fourth  Avenue  horse-car,  after 
her  fare  had  been  accepted  by  the  conductor,  because  a 
white  passenger  objected  to  her  presence. 


354  HIDDEN   TREASURES. 

In  the  first  case  he  was  largely  instrumental  in  estab- 
lishing a  precedent,  setting  forth  the  theory  that  slaves 
brought  into  free  territory,  were  at  liberty.  In  the 
second  case,  he  obtained  a  verdict  of  $500.00  damages  in 
favor  of  the  colored  woman  as  against  the  company. 
The  establishment  of  this  precedent  caused  the  street 
railroad  companies  of  the  city  to  issue  an  order  that 
colored  persons  should  be  allowed  to  travel  in  their  cars. 
Thus  did  Chester  A.  Arthur  obtain  equal  civil  rights  for 
negroes  in  public  vehicles. 

In  1859  he  married  Miss  Ellen  Lewis  Herndon,  of 
Fredericksburg,  Virginia;  daughter  of  Captain  William 
Lewis  Herndon,  United  States  Navy,  who  went 
bravely  to  his  death  in  1857,  sinking  with  his  ship,  the 
Central  America,  refusing  to  leave  his  post  of  duty, 
though  he  helped  secure  the  safety  of  others.  Mrs. 
Arthur  was  a  devoted  wife,  and  a  woman  of  many  ac- 
complishments. •  She  died  in  January,  1880,  and  lies 
buried  in  the  Albany  Rural  Cemetery. 

Mr.  Arthur  took  a  lively  interest  in  politics,  and  was 
first  a  Henry  Clay  Whig,  but  later  helped  to  form  the 
Republican  party.  He  held  several  offices  in  the  militia 
IDrior  to  1860,  and  when  Edwin  D.  Morgan  became  gov- 
ernor of  the  State  in  1860,  he  made  Mr.  Arthur  a  member 
of  his  staff,  promoting  him  from  one  position  to  another 
until  he  became  quarter-master  general.  The  duties  of 
this  post  were  most  arduous  and  exacting.  To  promptly 
equip,  supply  and  forward  the  thousands  of  troops  sent 
to  the  front  to  defend  the  Union  was  a  task  demanding 
the  highest  executive  ability  and  rare  organizing  skill, 
besides  the  greatest  precision  in  receiving,  disbursing 
and  accounting  for  the  public  funds.  Millions  of  dollars 
passed  through  his  hands ;  he  had  the  letting  of  enor- 


FROM  OBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.         355 

mous  contracts,  and  opportunities,  without  number,  by 
which  he  might  have  enriched  himself.  But  he  was  true 
to  himself  and  to  his  trust.  So  implicit  was  the  confi- 
dence reposed  in  him  that  his  accounts  were  audited  at 
Washington  without  question  or  deduction,  though  the 
claims  of  many  States  were  disallowed,  to  the  extent  of 
millions.  He  left  the  office  poorer  than  when  he  entered 
it,  but  with  the  proud  satisfaction  of  knowing  that  all 
the  world  esteemed  him  as  an  honest  man. 

From  1863  to  1871  General  Arthur  successfully  en- 
gaged in  the  practice  of  law  in  New  York.  November 
20th,  1871,  he  was  appointed  collector  of  the  port  of  New 
York,  and  re-appointed  in  1875.  The  second  appointment 
was  confirmed  ^y  the  Senate  without  reference  to  a  com- 
mittee, the  usual  course,  the  fact  being  highly  compli- 
mentary, and  testifying  to  the  high  opinion  held  by  the 
Senate  regarding  his  official  record.  He  was  suspended 
by  President  Hayes,  though  no  reflection  upon  his  official 
conduct  was  made.  He  again  returned  to  the  practice 
of  law,  though  taking  an  energetic  part  in  politics, 
serving  several  years  as  chairman  of  the  Republican 
State  Committee.  General  Arthur,  in  the  campaign  of 
1880,  was  an  ardent  supporter  of  Grant  before  the 
National  Convention,  being  one  of  the  famous  ^^306"  who 
voted  for  Grant  to  the  last. 

His  nomination  for  Vice  President  was  as  much  a 
surprise  as  that  of  Garfield  for  the  first  place  on  the 
ticket.  He  had  not  been  mentioned  as  a  candidate,  and 
his  own  delegation  had  not  thought  of  presenting  his 
name  until  the  roll  was  called  in  the  Convention.  When 
New  York  was  reached  in  the  call  the  delegation  asked 
to  be  excused  from  voting  for  a  time.  Then  General 
Stewart  L.  Woodford  cast  the  vote  for  Arthur.    The  tide 


856  HIDDEN    TREASURES. 

quickly  turned.  The  Ohio  men  were  disposed  to  be  concili- 
atory, and  swung  over  to  Arthur,  who  was  nominated 
on  the  first  ballot.  The  incidents  that  followed  the  in- 
auguration of  Garfield  and  himself  as  President  and  Vice- 
President  ;  the  unhappy  differences  that  led  to  the  resig- 
nation of  Senators  Conkling  and  Piatt ;  the  strife  over 
the  election  of  their  successors;  the  assassination  and 
death  of  President  Garfield,  and  the  accession  to  the 
presidency  of  General  Arthur.  These  form  a  chapter  in 
our  political  history,  with  the  details  of  which  we  are  all 
familiar,  and  are  not  likely  to  soon  be  forgotten. 

It  was  under  the  most  unfavorable  circumstances 
that  Chester  A.  Arthur  assumed  the  office  of  President ;, 
the  people's  passion  over  the  death  of  the  second  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States,  to  fall  by  an  assassin's  hand^ 
was  intense  ;  factional  feeling  in  his  own  party  was  bit- 
ter and  apparently  irreconcilable ;  when  the  popular 
mind  was  filled  with  dreadful  forebodings  as  to  the 
future  ;  but  he  exhibited  a  gravity,  a  reticence,  an  affa- 
bility, and  a  firmness  which  commanded  the  respect  of 
conservative  men  of  all  parties.  Not  only  was  he  the 
most  successful — perhaps  the  only  successful — Vice- 
President  elevated  to  the  Presidency  by  the  death 
of  the  President,  but  he  is  worthy  to  be  counted  among 
the  most  serviceable  of  the  Presidents. 

Peace  and  prosperity  were  promoted  by  his  adminis- 
tration. Ex-President  Chester  A.  Arthur  died  at  his  resi- 
dence in  New  York  city,  November  18th,  1886.  He  leaves 
as  surviving  members  of  his  family  two  children,  Chester 
Allan,  a  young  man  of  twenty-two  years,  and  Miss  Nellie, 
just  budding  into  womanhood.  At  the  age  of  fifty-six, 
without  elaborate  display,  he  was  quietly  laid  beside  his 
wife  in  Eural  Cemetery. 


FROM  OBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.        357 


John  A.  Logan. 


<^T  ENTERED  the  field  to  die,  if  need  be,  for  thisgov- 
X  ernment  and  never  expect  to  return  to  peaceful 
pursuits  until  the  object  of  this  war  of  preservation  has 
become  a  fact  established."  Thus  spoke  John  A.  Logan 
in  1862,  when  asked  to  return  home  from  the  field  and 
become  a  candidate  for  Congress. 

General  Logan  was  born  February  9th,  1826,  in  Mur- 
physboro,  Illinois,  and  was  the  eldest  of  eleven  children. 
He  received  his  education  in  the  common  schools  and  in 
Shiloh  Academy. 

The  Mexican  war  broke  out  when  young  Logan  was 
but  twenty  years  of  age,  and  he  at  once  enlisted  and  was 
made  a  lieutenant  in  one  of  the  Illinois  regiments.  He 
returned  home  in  1848  with  an  excellent  military  record, 
and  commenced  the  study  of  law  in  the  office  of  his 
uncle,  Alexander  M.  Jenkins,  who  had  formerly  been 
lieutenant-governor  of  the  State. 

In  1844,  before  he  had  completed  his  law  course,  he 
was  elected  clerk  of  Jackson  county,  and  at  the  expira- 
tion of  his  term  of  office  went  to  Louisville,  Kentucky, 
where  he  attended  law  lectures,  and  was  admitted  to  the 
bar  in  the  spring  of  1851.  In  the  fall  of  the  same  year 
he  was  elected  to  represent  Jackson  and  Franklin 
counties  in  the  legislature,  and  from  that  time  has  been 
almost  uninterruptedly  in  the  public  service,  either  civil 
or  military. 

He  was  twice  elected  to  the  legislature,  and  in  1854 


358  HIDDEN    TREASURES. 

was  a  Democratic  presidential  elector,  and  cast  his  vote 
for  James  Buchanan. 

The  year  of  1860— the  year  of  the  great  Lincoln  cam- 
paign— saw  Logan  serving  his  second  term  in  Congress 
as  the  representative  of  the  Ninth  Illinois  Congressional 
District.  Mr.  Logan  was  then  a  Democrat  and  an  ardent 
supporter  of  Stephen  A.  Douglas,  Mr.  Lincoln's  opponent. 
On  the  floor  of  Congress  he  several  times  in  1860  and 
1861  attacked  the  course  of  the  Southern  members. 

The  war  came  at  last,  and  Logan  was  one  of  the  first 
to  enter  the  Union  army.  He  resigned  his  seat  in  Con- 
gress in  July,  1861,  for  that  purpose,  and  took  a  brave 
part  in  the  first  battle  of  Bull  Run.  He  personally  raised 
the  Thirty-first  Illinois  Regiment  of  Infantry,  and  was 
elected  its  colonel.  The  regiment  was  mustered  into 
service  on  September  13th,  1861,  was  attached  to  General 
M' demand's  brigade,  and  seven  weeks  later  was  under 
a  hot  fire  at  Belmont.  During  this  fight  Logan  had  a 
horse  shot  from  under  him,  and  was  conspicuous  in  his 
gallantry  in  a  fierce  bayonet  charge  which  he  personally 
led.  The  Thirty-first,  under  Logan,  quickly  became 
known  as  a  fighting  regiment,  and  distinguished  itself  at 
the  capture  of  Forts  Henry  and  Donelson.  In  this  last  en- 
gagement Logan  was  severely  wounded,  and  for  many 
weeks  unfitted  for  duty.  During  his  confinement  in  the 
hospital  his  brave  wife,  with  great  tact  and  energy,  got 
through  the  lines  to  his  bedside,  and  nursed  him  until  he 
was  able  to  take  the  field  once  more. 

"Logan  was  promoted  to  the  rank  of  Brigadier-General 
of  Volunteers  soon  after  reporting  for  duty.  This  was 
in  March,  1862,  and  he  was  soon  after  hotly  engaged  in 
Grant's  Mississippi  campaign.  In  the  following  year  he 
was  asked  to  return  home  and  go  to  congress  again,  but 


FROM  OBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.         359 

declined  with  an  emphatic  statement  that  he  was  in  the 
war  to  stay  until  he  was  either  disabled  or  peace  was 
established.  Eight  months  after  his  promotion  to  the 
rank  of  Brigadier-General  he  was  made  a  Major-General 
for  exceptional  bravery  and  skill,  and  was  put  in  com- 
mand of  the  Third  Division  of  the  Seventeenth  Army 
Corps,  under  General  MTherson.  After  passing  through 
the  hot  fights  of  Raymond  and  Port  Gibson,  he  led  the 
center  of  General  MTherson's  command  at  the  siege  of 
Yicksburg,  and  his  column  was  the  first  to  enter  the  city 
after  the  surrender.  He  was  made  the  Military  Governor 
of  the  captured  city,  and  his  popularity  with  the  Seven- 
teenth Corps  was  so  great  that  a  gold  medal  was  given 
to  him  as  a  testimonial  of  the  attachment  felt  for  him 
by  the  men  he  led. 

"  In  the  following  year  he  led  the  Army  of  the  Tennessee 
on  the  right  of  Sherman's  great  march  to  the  sea.  He 
was  in  the  battles  of  Resaca  and  the  Little  Kenesaw 
Mountain,  and  in  the  desperate  engagement  of  Peach 
Tree  Creek  where  General  MTherson  fell.  The  death  of 
M'Pherson  threw  the  command  upon  Logan,  and  the  close 
of  the  bitter  engagement  which  ensued  saw  8,000  dead 
Confederates  on  the  field,  while  the  havoc  in  the  Union 
lines  had  been  correspondingly  great. 

"After  the  fall  of  Atlanta,  which  occurred  on  the  2nd 
of  September,  General  Logan  returned  to  the  North,  and 
took  a  vigorous  part  in  the  Western  States  in  the  cam- 
paign which  resulted  in  the  election  of  Abraham  Lin- 
coln for  the  second  time  to  the  presidency.  He  rejoined 
his  command  at  Savannah,  and  was  with  it  until  the  sur- 
render of  Johnson,  after  which  he  went  with  the  army 
to  Washington. 

"His  military  career  ended  with  his  nomination  in 


360  HIDDEN    TREASURES. 

1866  by  the  Eepublicans  of  Illinois  to  represent  the  State 
as  Congressman  at-large  in  the  Fortieth  Congress.  He 
was  elected  by  60,000  majority.  He  was  one  of  the 
managers  on  the  part  of  the  House  of  Representatives 
in  the  impeachment  proceedings  which  were  instituted 
against  Johnson.  In  1868  and  1870  he  was  re-elected  to 
the  House,  but  before  he  had  finished  his  term  under  the 
last  election  he  was  elected  to  the  United  States  Senate 
to  succeed  Senator  Yates.  The  last  term  for  which  he 
was  elected  expires  in  1891. 

"He  took  an  active  part  in  the  last  presidential  cam- 
paign, when  he  and  Mr.  Blaine  were  the  candidates  on 
the  presidential  ticket,  and  had  a  strong  influence  in 
holding  the  soldier  vote  fast  in  the  Republican  ranks." 

Mr.  Logan's  views  in  regard  to  the  immortality  of  the 
soul  was  clearly  expressed  in  a  speech  delivered  at  the 
tomb  of  General  Grant  on  Memorial  Day,  1886 : 

"Was  any  American  soldier  immolated  upon  a  blind 
law  of  his  country?  Not  one!  Every  soldier  in  the 
Union  ranks,  whether  in  the  regular  army  or  not,  was  in 
the  fullest  sense  a  member  of  the  great,  the  imperish- 
able, the  immortal  army  of  American  volunteers.  These 
gallant  spirits  now  lie  in  untimely  sepulcher.  No  more 
will  they  respond  to  the  fierce  blast  of  the  bugle  or  the 
call  to  arms.  But  let  us  believe  that  they  are  not  dead, 
but  sleeping!  Look  at  the  patient  caterpillar  as  he 
crawls  on  the  ground,  liable  to  be  crushed  by  every  care- 
less foot  that  passes.  He  heeds  no  menace,  and  turns 
from  no  dangers.  Regardless  of  circumstances,  he  treads 
his  daily  round,  avoided  by  the  little  child  sporting  upon 
the  sward.  He  has  work,  earnest  work,  to  perform,  from 
which  he  will  not  be  turned,  even  at  the  forfeit  of  his 
life.    Reaching  his  appointed  place,  he  ceases  even  to  eat, 


FROM  OBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.         361 

and  begins  to  spin  those  delicate  fibres  which,  woven  into 
fabrics  of  beauty  and  utility,  contribute  to  the  comfort 
and  adornment  of  a  superior  race.  His  work  done,  he 
lies  down  to  the  sleep  from  which  he  never  wakes  in  the 
old  form.  But  that  silent,  motionless  body  is  not  dead  ; 
an  astonishing  metamorphosis  is  taking  place.  The 
gross  digestive  apparatus  dwindles  away;  the  three  pairs 
of  legs,  which  served  the  creature  to  crawl  upon  the 
ground,  are  exchanged  for  six  pairs  suited  to  a  different 
purpose;  the  skin  is  cast ;  the  form  is  changed ;  a  pair  of 
wings,  painted  like  the  morning  flowers,  spring  out,  and 
presently  the  ugly  worm  that  trailed  its  slow  length 
through  the  dust  is  transformed  into  the  beautiful  but- 
terfly, basking  in  the  bright  sunshine,  the  envy  of  the 
child  and  the  admiration  of  the  man.  Is  there  no 
appeal  in  this  wonderful  and  enchanting  fact  to  man's 
highest  reason  ?  Does  it  contain  no  suggestion  that 
man,  representing  the  highest  pinnacle  of  created  life 
upon  the  globe,  must  undergo  a  flnal  metamorphosis,  as 
supremely  more  marvelous  and  more  spiritual,  as  man  is 
greater  in  physical  conformation,  and  far  removed  in 
mental  construction  from  the  humble  worm  that  at  the 
call  of  nature  straightway  leaves  the  ground,  and  soars 
upon  the  gleeful  air?  Is  the  fact  not  a  thousand-fold 
more  convincing  than  the  assurance  of  the  poet: 

**It  must  be  so;  Plato,  thou  reasonest  well ; 
Else  whence  this  pleasing  hope,  this  fond  desire, 
This  longing  after  immortality  ? 
Or  whence  this  dread  secret  and  inward  horror 
Of  falling  into  naught  ?     Why  shrinks  the  soul 
Back  on  herself,  and  startles  at  destruction  ? 
'Tis  the  divinity  that  stirs  within  us ; 
'Tia  heaven  itself  that  points  out  an  hereafter, 
And  intimates  eternity  to  man, 
Eternity !  thou  pleasing,  dreadful  thought." 


362  HIDDEN   TREASURES. 

"On  December  26th,  1886,  the  strong  man  succumbed 
to  rheumatism.  His  death  was  a  great  shock  to  his 
numerous  friends  throughout  the  Union,  and  he  was 
mourned  by  a  great  and  mighty  nation.  From  the  lowly 
ranks  to  whom  he  belonged  by  birth,  to  the  most  exalted 
circles,  the  sympathy  for  the  bereaved  was  genuine. 


James  G,  Blaine. 


FEW  men  are  more  prominently  placed  before  the 
vision  of  a  mighty  nation  to-day  than  James  G. 
Blaine.  Born  in  obscurity,  he  possesses  traits  of  char- 
acter which  are  peculiar  to  himself ;  they  differ  widely 
from  that  of  any  statesman  who  ever  spoke  in  the  legis- 
lative halls  at  Washington. 

Colleges,  of  themselves,  make  no  man  great.  An 
'educated  idiot'  will  never  make  a  statesman,  notwith- 
standing the  too  prevalent  notion  that  the  possession  of 
a  diploma  should  entitle  any  one  to  a  place  in  our  social 
aristocracy.  The  great,  active,  relentless,  human  world 
gives  a  man  a  place  of  real  influence,  and  crowns  him  as 
truly  great  for  what  he  really  is;  and  will  not  care  a  fig 
for  any  college  certificate.  If  the  young  man  is  deter- 
mined to  succeed  in  the  world  then  a  college  is  a  help. 
The  trouble  is  not  in  the  college,  but  in  the  man.  He 
should  regard  the  college  as  a  means  to  attain  a  result, 
not  the  result  of  itself.  The  question  the  great  busy 
world  asks  the  claimant  is:    What  can  he  do?     If  the 


FROM  OBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.         363 

claimant  enter  school  determined  to  succeed,  even  if  he 
sleeps  but  four  to  six  hours  out  of  the  twenty-four,  he 
will  be  benefited.  However,  study  like  that  of  Webster, 
by  New  Hamshire  pine  knots;  and  like  Garfield's,  by  a 
wood-pile;  generally  proves  valuable.  Blaine's  life  is 
thus  beautifully  described  by  his  biographer  : — 

"James  Gillespie  Blaine,  the  subject  of  this  biography^ 
was  born  January  31st,  1830.  His  father,  Ephraim  L. 
Blaine,  and  his  mother,  Maria  Gillespie,  still  lived  in  their 
two-story  house  on  the  banks  of  the  Monongahela. 
No  portentious  events,  either  in  nature  or  public  affairs, 
marked  his  advent.  A  few  neighbors  with  generous  in- 
terest and  sympathy  extended  their  aid  and  congratula- 
tions. The  tops  of  the  hills  and  the  distant  Alleghanies 
were  white  with  snow,  but  the  valley  was  bare  and 
brown,  and  the  swollen  river  swept  the  busy  ferry-boat 
from  shore  to  shore  with  marked  emphasis,  as  old  ac- 
quaintances repeated  the  news  of  the  day,  ^Blaine  has. 
another  son.' 

Another  soul  clothed  in  humanity;  another  cry;  in- 
creased care  in  one  little  home.  That  was  all.  It  seems 
so  sad  in  this,  the  day  of  his  fame  and  power,  that  the 
mother  who,  with  such  pain  and  misgiving,  prayer  and 
noble  resolutions,  saw  his  face  for  the  first  time  should 
now  be  sleeping  in  the  church-yard.  In  the  path  that 
now  leads  by  her  grave,  she  had  often  paused  before  en- 
tering the  shadowy  gates  of  the  weather-beaten  Catholic 
church,  and  calmed  her  anxious  fears  that  she  might  de- 
voutly worship  God  and  secure  the  answer  to  her  prayer 
for  her  child. 

It  seems  strange  now,  in  the  light  of  other  experi- 
ences, that  no  tradition  or  record  of  a  mother's  prophecy 
concerning  the  future  greatness  of  her  son  comes  down 


:364  HIDDEN    TREASUEES. 

to  US  from  that  birthday,  or  from  his  earliest  years.  But 
the  old  European  customs  and  prejudices  of  her  Irish 
and  Scottish  ancestry  seem  to  have  lingered  with  suffi- 
cient  force  to  still  give  the  place  of  social  honor  and  to 
found  the  parent's  hopes  on  the  first-born.  To  all  con- 
cerned it  was  a  birth  of  no  special  significance.  Outside 
of  the  family  it  was  a  matter  of  no  moment.  Births 
were  frequent.  The  Brownsville  people  heard  of  it,  and 
passed  on  to  forget,  as  a  ripple  in  the  Monongahela 
flashes  on  the  careless  sight  for  a  moment,  then  the  river 
rolls  on  as  before.  Ephraim  Blaine  was  proud  of  another 
son;  the  little  brother  and  the  smaller  sister  hailed  a  new 
brother.  The  mother,  with  a  deep  joy  which  escaped  not 
in  words,  looked  onward  and  tried  to  read  the  future 
when  the  flood  of  years  should  have  carried  her  new 
treasure  from  her  arms.  That  flood  has  swept  over  her 
now,  and  all  her  highest  hopes  and  ambition  is  filled, 
but  she  seems  not  to  hear  the  church  bells  that  ring  nor 
the  cannon  that  bellow  at  the  sound  of  his  name. 

"All  his  early  childhood  years  were  spent  about  his 
home  playing  in  the  well-kept  yard  gazing  at  the  numer- 
ous  boats  that  so  frequently  went  pufiBng  by.  For  a 
short  time  the  family  moved  to  the  old  Gillespie  House 
further  up  the  river,  and  some  of  the  inhabitants  say 
that  at  one  time,  while  some  repairs  were  going  on,  they 
resided  at  the  old  homestead  of  Neal  Gillespie,  back 
from  the  river,  on  Indian  Hill." 

At  seventeen  he  graduated  from  school  and,  his 
father,  losing  what  little  property  he  did  have,  young 
Blaine  was  thrown  upon  his  own  resources.  But  it  is 
often  the  best  thing  possible  for  a  young  man  to  be  thus 
tossed  over-board,  and  be  compelled  to  sink  or  swim.  It 
develops  a  self-reliant  nature.     He  secured  employment 


FROM  OBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.         36§ 

as  a  teacher,  and  into  this  calling  he  threw  his  whole 
soul.  Thus  he  became  a  success  as  an  educator  at  Blue 
Lick  Springs.  He  next  went  to  Philadelphia,  and  for 
two  years  was  the  principal  teacher  of  the  boys  in  the 
Philadelphia  Institution  for  instruction  of  the  blind. 
When  he  left  that  institution  he  left  behind  him  a 
universal  regret  at  a  serious  loss  incurred,  but  an  im- 
pression of  his  personal  force  upon  the  work  of  that 
institution  which  it  is  stated,  on  good  authority,  is 
felt  to  this  day.  Mr.  Chapin,  the  principal,  one  day 
said,  as  he  took  from  a  desk  in  the  corner  of  the  school- 
room a  thick  quarto  manuscript  book,  bound  in  dark 
leather  and  marked  ^Journal:'  "ISTow,  I  will  show  you 
something  that  illustrates  how  thoroughly  Mr.  Blaine 
mastered  anything  he  took  hold  of.  This  book  Mr.  Blaine 
compiled  with  great  labor  from  the  minute-books  of  the 
Board  of  Managers.  It  is  a  historical  view  of  the  insti- 
tution from  the  time  of  its  foundation,  up  to  the  time  of 
Mr.  Blaine's  departure.  He  did  all  the  work  in  his  own 
room,  telling  no  one  of  it  till  he  left.  Then  he  presented 
it,  through  me,  to  the  Board  of  Managers  who  were  both 
surprised  and  gratified.  I  believe  they  made  him  a 
present  of  $100  as  a  thank-offering  for  an  invaluable 
work."  The  book  illustrates  one  great  feature  in  the 
success  of  Mr.  Blaine.  It  is  clear,  and  indicates  his 
mastery  of  facts  in  whatever  he  undertook,  and  his 
orderly  presentation  of  facts  in  detail.  The  fact  that  no 
one  knew  of  it  until  the  proper  time,  when  its  effect 
would  be  greatest,  shows  that  he  naturally  possesses  a 
quality  that  is  almost  indispensible  to  the  highest  attain- 
ment of  success. 

He  left  Philadelphia  for  Augusta,  Maine,  where  he 
became  editor  of  the  Kennebec  Journal,    While  editor 


366  HIDDEN   TREASURES. 

and  member  of  his  State  legislature,  he  laid  the  founda- 
tion which  prepared  him  to  step  at  once  to  the  front, 
when  in  1862  he  was  sent  to  the  National  Congress, 
when  the  country  was  greatly  agitated  over  the  Five- 
twenty  bonds,  and  how  they  should  be  redeemed.  Mr. 
Blaine  spoke  as  follows  : 

'•'But,  now,  Mr.  Speaker,  suppose  for  the  sake  of  argu- 
ment, we  admit  that  the  Go'vernment  may  fairly  and 
legally  pay  the  Five-twenty  bonds  in  paper  currency, 
what  then?  I  ask  the  gentleman  from  Massachusetts  to 
tell  us,  what  then?  It  is  easy,  I  know,  to  issue  as  many 
greenbacks  as  will  pay  the  maturing  bonds,  regardless 
of  the  effect  upon  the  inflation  of  prices,  and  the  general 
derangement  of  business.  Five  hundred  millions  of 
Five-twenties  are  now  payable,  and  according  to  the 
easy  mode  suggested,  all  we  have  to  do  is  to  set  the  print- 
ing-presses in  motion,  and  'so  long  as  rags  and  lamp- 
black hold  out '  we  need  have  no  embarrassment  about 
paying  our  National  Debt.  But  the  ugly  question  re- 
curs, what  are  you  going  to  do  with  the  greenbacks  thus 
put  afloat?  Five  hundred  millions  this  year,  and  eleven 
hundred  millions  more  on  this  theory  of  payment  by  the 
year  1872  ;  so  that  within  the  period  of  four  or  five  years 
we  would  have  added  to  our  paper  money  the  thrilling 
inflation  of  sixteen  hundred  millions  of  dollars.  We 
should  all  have  spleudid  times  doubtless !  Wheat,  under 
the  new  dispensation,  ought  to  bring  twenty  dollars  a 
bushel,  and  boots  would  not  be  worth  more  than  two 
hundred  dollars  a  pair,  and  the  farmers  of  our  country 
would  be  as  well  off  as  Santa  Anna's  rabble  of  Mexican 
soldiers,  who  were  allowed  ten  dollars  a  day  for  their 
services  and  charged  eleven  for  their  rations  and  clothing. 
The  sixteen  hundred  millions  of  greenbacks  added  to  the 


FROM  OBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.         367 

amount  already  issued  would  give  us  some  twenty-three 
hundred  millions  of  paper  money,  and  I  suppose  the 
theory  of  the  new  doctrine  would  leave  this  mass  perma- 
nently in  circulation,  for  it  would  hardly  be  consistent  to 
advocate  the  redemption  of  the  greenbacks  in  gold  after 
having  repudiated  and  foresworn  our  obligation  on  the 
bonds. 

But  if  it  be  intended  to  redeem  the  legal  tenders  in 
gold,  what  will  have  been  the  net  gain  to  the  Govern- 
ment in  the  whole  transaction?  If  any  gentleman  will 
tell  me,  I  shall  be  glad  to  learn  how  it  will  be  easier  to 
pay  sixteen  hundred  millions  in  gold  in  the  redemption 
of  greenbacks,  than  to  pay  the  same  amount  in  the 
redemption  of  Five-twenty  bonds?  The  policy  advo- 
cated, it  seems  to  me,  has  only  two  alternatives — the  one 
to  ruinously  inflate  the  currency  and  leave  it  so,  reckless 
of  results ;  the  other  to  ruinously  inflate  the  currency  at 
the  outset,  only  to  render  redemption  in  gold  far  more 
burdensome  in  the  end. 

I  know  it  maybe  claimed,  that  the  means  necessary 
to  redeem  the  Five-twenties  in  greenbacks  may  be  real- 
ized by  a  new  issue  of  currency  bonds  to  be  placed  on 
the  market.  Of  results  in  the  future  every  gentleman 
has  the  right  to  his  own  opinion,  and  all  may  alike  in- 
dulge in  speculation.  But  it  does  seem  to  me  that  the 
Government  would  be  placed  in  aw^iward  attitude  when 
it  should  enter  the  market  to  negotiate  the  loan,  the 
avails  of  which  were  to  be  devoted  to  breaking  faith 
with  those  who  already  held  its  most  sacred  obligations* 
What  possible  security  would  the  new  class  of  creditors 
have,  that  when  their  debts  were  matured  some  new  form 
of  evasion  would  be  resorted  to  by  which  they  in  turn 
would  be  deprived  of  their  just  and  honest  dues? 


368  HIDDEN    TREASURES. 

^^Falsus  in  iinOj  falsus  in  omnlhus  would  supply  the 
ready  form  of  protest  against  trusting  a  Government 
with  a  new  loan  when  it  had  just  ignored  its  plain  obli- 
gation on  an  old  one. 

'*  Payment  of  the  Five-twenty  bonds  in  paper  currency 
involves  therefore  a  limitless  issue  of  greenbacks,  with  at- 
tendant evils  of  gigantic  magnitude  and  far-reaching  con- 
sequence. And  the  worse  evil  of  the  whole  is  the  delusion 
which  calls  this  a  payment  at  all.  It  is  no  payment  in  any 
proper  sense,  for  it  neither  gives  the  creditor  what  he  is 
entitled  to,  nor  does  it  release  the  debtor  from  subsequent 
responsibility.  You  may  get  rid  of  the  Five-twenty  by 
issuing  the  greenback,  but  how  will  you' get  rid  of  the 
greenback  except  by  paying  gold  ?  The  only  escape  from 
ultimate  payment  of  gold  is  to  declare  that  as  a 
nation  we  permanently  and  finally  renounce  all  idea 
of  ever  attaining  a  specie  standard — that  we  launch  our 
selves  on  an  ocean  of  paper  money  without  shore  or 
sounding,  with  no  rudder  to  guide  us  and  no  compass  to 
steer  by.  And  this  is  precisely  what  is  involved  if  we 
adopt  this  mischievous  suggestion  of  '  a  new  way  to  pay 
old  debts,'  Our  fate  in  attempting  such  a  course  may  be 
easily  read  in  the  history  of  similar  follies  both  in  Europe 
and  in  our  own  country.  Prostration  of  credit,  finan- 
cial disaster,  widespread  distress  among  all  classes  of 
the  community,  would  form  the  closing  scenes  in  our 
career  of  gratuitous  folly  and  national  dishonor.  And 
from  such  an  abyss  of  sorrow  and  humiliation,  it  would 
be  a  painful  and  toilsome  effort  to  regain  as  sound  a 
position  in  our  finances  as  we  are  asked  voluntarily  to 
abandon  to-day. 

*•  The  remedy  for  our  financial  troubles,  Mr.  Speaker, 
will  not  be  found  in  a  superabundance  of  depreciated 
23 


FROM  OBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.         369 

paper  currency.    It  lies  in  the  opposite  direction— and 
the  sooner  the  nation  finds  itself  on  a  specie  basis,  the 
sooner  will  the  public  treasury  be  freed  from  embarrass- 
ment, and  private  business  relieved  from  discourage- 
ment.   Instead,  therefore,  of  entering  upon  a  reckless 
and  boundless  issue  of  legal  tenders,  with  their  conse- 
quent depression  if  not  destruction  of  value,  let  us  set 
resolutely  to  work  anrd  make  those  already  in  circula- 
tion equal  to  so  many  gold  dollars.  When  that  result  shall 
be  accomplished,  w^e  can  proceed  to  pay  our  Five-twen- 
ties either  in  coin  or  paper,  for  the  one  would  be  equivalent 
to  the  other.    But  to  proceed  deliberately  on  a  scheme 
of  depreciating  our  legal  tenders  and  then  forcing  the 
holders  of  Government  bonds  to  accept  them  in  payment, 
would  resemble  in  point  of  honor,  the  policy  of  a  mer- 
chant who,  with    abundant  resources   and  prosperous 
business,  should  devise  a  plan  for  throwing  discredit  on 
his  own  notes  with  the  view  of  having  them  bought  up 
at  a  discount,  ruinous  to  the  holders  and  immensely 
profitable  to  his  own  knavish  pocket.    This  comparison 
may  faintly  illustrate  the  wrongfulness  of  the  policy, 
but  not  its  consummate  folly — for  in  the   case  of  the 
Government,  unlike  the  merchant,  the  stern  necessity 
would  recur  of  making  good  in  the  end,  by  the  payment 
of  hard  coin,  all  the  discount  that  might  be  gained  by 
the  temporary  substitution  of  paper. 

"  Discarding  all  such  schemes  as  at  once  unworthy  and 
unprofitable,  let  us  direct  our  policy  steadily,  but  not 
rashly,  toward  the  resumption  of  specie  payment.  And 
when  we  have  attained  that  end — easily  attainble  at  no 
distant  day  if  the  proper  policy  be  pursued — we  can  all 
unite  on  some  honorable  plan  for  the  redemption  of  the 
Five-twenty  bonds,  and  the  issuing  instead  thereof,  anew 


'670  HIDDEN   TREASURES. 

series  of  bonds  which  can  be  more  favorably  placed  at  a 
low  rate  of  interest.  When  we  shall  have  reached  the 
specie  basis,  the  value  of  United  States  securities  will  be 
so  high  in  the  money  market  of  the  world,  that  we  can 
command  our  own  terms.  We  can  then  call  in  our  Five- 
twenties  according  to  the  very  letter  and  spirit  of  the 
bond,  and  adjust  a  new  loan  that  will  be  eagerl)^  sought 
for  by  capitalists,  and  will  be  free  from  those  elements 
of  discontent  that  in  some  measure  surround  the  exist- 
ing Funded  debt  of  the  country. 

"  As  to  the  particular  measures  of  legislation  requisite 
to  hasten  the  resumption  of  specie  payment,  gentlemen 
equally  entitled  to  respect  may  widely  differ ;  but  there 
is  one  line  of  policy  conducive  thereto  on  which  we  all 
ought  to  agree;  and  that  is  on  a  serious  reduction  of  the 
government  expenses  and  a  consequent  lightening  of  the 
burdens  of  taxation.  The  interest-bearing  debt  of  the 
United  States,  wheu  permanently  funded,  will  not  ex- 
ceed twenty-one  hundred  millions  of  dollars,  imposing 
an  annual  interest  of  about  one  hundred  and  twenty-five 
millions.  Our  other  expenses,  including  War,  Navy,  the 
Pension  list,  and  the  Civil  list,  ought  not  to  exceed  one 
hundred  millions;  so  that  if  we  raise  two  hundred  and 
fifty  millions  from  Customs  and  Internal  Revenue  com- 
bined, we  should  have  twenty-five  millions  annual  sur- 
plus to  apply  to  the  reduction  of  tlie  Public  debt.  But 
to  attain  this  end  we  must  mend  our  ways,  and  practice 
an  economy  far  more  consistent  and  severe  than  any  we 
have  attempted  in  the  past.  Our  Military  peace  estab- 
lishment must  be  reduced  one-half  at  least,  and  our 
Naval  appropriations  correspondingly  curtailed;  and  in- 
numerable leaks  and  gaps  and  loose  ends,  that  have 
so  long  attended   our  government  expenditure,   must 


iaiOiVl   OBSCURITY  TO   GREAT  HONOR.  371 

be  taken  up  and  stopped.  If  such  a  policy  be 
pursued  by  Congress,  neither  the  principal  of  the 
debt,  nor  the  interest  of  the  debt,  nor  the  annual  ex- 
penses of  government,  will  be  burdensome  to  the  peo- 
ple. We  can  raise  two  hundred  and  fifty  millions  of 
revenue  on  the  gold  basis,  and  at  the  same  time  have  a 
vast  reduction  in  our  taxes.  And  we  can  do  this  with- 
out repudiation  in  any  form,  either  open  or  covert, 
avowed  or  indirect,  but  with  every  obligation  of  the 
government  fulfilled  and  discharged  in  its  exact  letter 
and  in  its  generous  spirit. 

"And  this,  Mr.  Speaker,  we  shall  do.  Our  national 
honor  demands  it;  our  national  interest  equally  demands 
it.  We  have  vindicated  our  claim  to  the  highest  hero- 
ism on  a  hundred  bloody  battle-fields,  and  have  stopped 
at  no  sacrifice  of  life  needful  to  the  maintenance  of  our 
national  integrity.  I  am  sure  that  in  the  peace  which 
our  arms  have  conquered,  we  shall  not  dishonor  our- 
selves by  withholding  from  any  public  ^creditor  a  dollar 
that  we  promised  to  pay  him,  nor  seek,  by  cunning  con- 
struction and  clever  afterthought,  to  evade  or  escape  the 
full  responsibility  of  our  national  indebtedness.  It  will 
doubtless  cost  us  a  vast  sum  to  pay  that  indebtedness — 
but  it  would  cost  us  incalculably  more  not  to  pay  it." 

This  speech,  here  referred  to,  occuring,  as  it  did  when 
the  ablest  speakers  were  interested,  w^as  pronounced  as 
a  marvel.  The  great  rows  of  figures  which  he  gave,  but 
which  space  will  not  allow  us  to  give,  illustrates  the  man, 
and  his  thorough  mastery  of  all  great  public  questions. 
He  never  enters  a  debate  unless  fully  prepared;  if  not 
already  prepared,  he  prepares  himself.  His  reserve 
power  is  wonderful.  What  a  feature  of  success  is  reserve 
power. 


372  HIDDEN  TREASURES. 

in  1876  occurred  one  of  the  most  remarkable  contests 
ever  known  in  Congress.  The  debate  began  upon  the 
proposition  to  grant  a  general  amnesty  to  all  those  who 
had  engaged  in  the  Southern  war  on  the  side  of  the  Con- 
federacy; of  course  this  would  include  Mr.  Davis.'  Hon. 
Benjamin  H.  Hill,  of  Georgia,  one  of  the  ablest  Congress- 
men in  the  South,  met  Mr.  Blaine  on  the  question.  As 
space  will  not  permit  us  to  go  into  detail  at  all  as  we 
would  like  to,  we  give  simply  an  extract  from  one  of  Mr. 
Blaine's  replies : 

"I  am  very  frank  to  say  that  in  regard  to  all  these 
gentlemen,  save  one,  I  do  not  know  of  any  reason  why 
amnesty  should  not  be  granted  to  them  as  it  has  been  tc 
many  others  of  the  same  class.  I  am  not  here  to  arguQ 
against  it.  The  gentleman  from  Iowa  (Mr.  Kasson; 
suggests  ^on  their  application.'  I  am  coming  to  that. 
But  as  I  have  said,  seeing  in  this  list,  as  I  have  examined 
it  with  some  care,  no  gentleman  to  whom  I  think  there 
would  be  any  objection,  since  amnesty  has  already  be^ 
come  so  general — and  I  am  not  going  back  of  that  ques* 
tion  to  argue  it — I  am  in  favor  of  granting  it  to  them. 
But  in  the  absence  of  this  respectful  form  of  application 
w  hich,  since  May  22d,  1S72,  has  become  a  sort  of  commou 
law  as  preliminary  to  amnesty,  I  simply  wish  to  put  in  that 
they  shall  go  before  a  United  States  Court,  and  in  open 
court,  with  uplifted  hand,  swear  that  tliey  mean  to  con- 
duct themselves  as  good  citizens  of  the  United  States. 
That  is  all. 

"Now,  gentlemen  may  say  that  this  is  a  foolish  exac- 
tion. Possibly  it  is.  But  somehow  or  other  I  have  a 
prejudice  in  favor  of  it.  And  there  are  some  petty  points 
in  it  that  appeal  as  well  to  prejudice  as  to  conviction. 
For  one,  I  do  not  want  to  impose  citizenship  on  any 


FROM  OBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.         373 

gentlemen.  If  I  am  correctly  informed,  and  I  state  it 
only  on  rumor,  there  are  some  gentlemen  in  this  list 
who  have  spoken  contemptuously  of  the  idea  of  their 
taking  citizenship,  and  have  spoken  still  more  contempt- 
uously of  the  idea  of  their  applying  for  citizenship.  1 
may  state  it  wrongly,  and  if  I  do,  I  am  willing  to  be 
corrected,  but  I  understand  that  Mr.  Robert  Toombs  has, 
on  several  occasions,  at  watering-places,  both  in  this 
country  and  in  Europe,  stated  that  he  would  not  ask  the 
United  States  for  citizenship. 

"Very  well ;  we  can  stand  it  about  as  well  as  Mr. 
Hobert  Toombs  can.  And  if  Mr.  Robert  Toombs  is  not 
prepared  to  go  into  a  court  of  the  United  States  and 
swear  that  he  means  to  be  a  good  citizen,  let  him  stay 
cut.  I  do  not  think  that  the  two  Houses  of  Congress 
should  convert  themselves  into  a  joint  convention  for 
the  purpose  of  emxbracing  Mr.  Robert  Toombs,  and  gush- 
ingly request  him  to  favor  us  by  coming  back  to  accept 
of  all  the  honors  of  citizenship.  That  is  the  whole.  All 
I  ask  is  that  each  of  these  gentlemen  shall  show  his  good 
faith  by  coming  forward  and  taking  the  oath  which  you 
on  that  side  of  the  House,  andwe  on  this  side  of  the  House, 
and  all  of  us  take,  and  gladly  take.  It  is  a  very  small  exac- 
tion to  make  as  a  preliminary  to  full  restoration  to  all 
the  rights  of  citizenship. 

''In  my  amendment,  Mr.  Speaker,  I  have  excepted 
JeSerson  Davis  from  its  operation.  Now,  I  do  not  place 
it  on  the  ground  that  Mr.  Davis  was,  as  he  has  been  com- 
monly called,  the  head  and  front  of  the  rebellion,  because, 
on  that  ground,  I  do  not  think  the  exception  would  be 
tenable.  Mr.  Davis  was  just  as  guilty,  no  more  so,  no 
less  so,  than  thousands  of  others  who  have  already  re- 
eeived  the  benefit  and  grace  of  amnesty.    Probably  he 


374  HIDDEN   TREASURES. 

was  far  less  efficient  as  an  enemy  of  the  United  States : 
probably  he  was  far  more  useful  as  a  disturber  of  the 
councils  of  the  Confederacy  than  many  who  have  already 
received  amnesty.  It  is  not  because  of  any  particular 
and  special  damage  that  he,  above  others,  did  to  the 
Union,  or  because  he  was  personally  or  especially  of  con- 
sequence, that  I  except  him.  But  I  except  him  on  this 
ground;  that  he  was  the  author,  knowingly,  delibe- 
rately, guiltily,  and  willfully,  of  the  gigantic  murders 
and  crimes  at  Andersonville.         *        *        *        * 

''Mr.  Speaker,  this  is  not  a  proposition  to  punish  Jef- 
ferson Davis.  There  is  nobody  attempting  that.  I  will 
very  frankly  say  that  I  myself  thought  the  indictment 
of  Mr.  Davis  at  Richmond,  under  the  administration  of 
Mr.  Johnson,  was  a  weak  attempt,  for  he  was  indicted 
only  for  that  of  which  he  was  guilty  in  common  with 
all  others  who  went  into  the  Confederate  movement. 
Therefore,  there  was  no  particular  reason  for  it.  But  I 
will  undertake  to  say  this,  and  as  it  may  be  considered 
an  extreme  speech,  I  want  to  say  it  with  great  deliber- 
ation, that  there  is  not  a  government,  a  civilized  govern- 
ment, on  the  face  of  the  globe — I  am  very  sure  there  is 
not  a  European  government — that  would  not  have  ar- 
rested Mr.  Davis,  and  when  they  had  him  in  their  power 
would  not  have  tried  him  for  maltreatment  of  the  pris- 
oners of  war  and  shot  him  within  thirty  days.  France^ 
Russia,  England,  Germany,  Austria,  any  one  of  them 
would  have  done  it.  The  poor  victim  Wirz  deserved 
his  death  for  brutal  treatment,  and  murder  of  many  vic- 
tims, but  I  always  thought  it  was  a  weak  movement  on 
the  i)art  of  our  government  to  allow  Jefferson  Davis  to 
go  at  large,  and  hang  Wirz.  I  confess  I  do.  Wirz  was 
nothing  in  the  world  but  a  mere  subordinate,  a  tool,  and 


FROM  OBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.         375 

there  was  no  special  reason  for  singling  him  out  for  death. 
I  do  not  say  he  did  not  deserve  it — he  did,  richly,  amply, 
fully.  He  deserved  no  mercy,  but  at  the  same  time,  as  I 
have  often  said,  it  seemed  like  skipping  over  the  presi- 
dent, superintendent,  and  board  of  directors  in  the  case 
of  a  great  railroad  accident,  and  hanging  the  brakeman 
of  the  rear  car. 

"There  is  no  proposition  here  to  punish  Jefferson  Davis. 
Nobody  is  seeking  to  do  it.  That  time  has  gone  by.  The 
statute  of  limitation,  common  feelings  of  humanity,  will 
supervene  for  his  benefit.  But  v/hat  you  ask  us  to  do  is 
to  declare  by  a  vote  of  two-thirds  of  both  branches  of 
Congress,  that  we  consider  Mr.  Davis  worthy  to  fill  the 
highest  offices  in  the  United  States  if  he  can  get  a  con- 
stituency to  indorse  him.  He  is  a  voter;  he  can  buy  and 
he  can  sell ;  he  can  go  and  he  can  come.  He  is  as  free 
as  any  man  in  the  United  States.  There  is  a  large  list 
of  subordinate  offices  to  which  he  is  eligible.  This  bill 
proposes,  in  view  of  that  record,  that  Mr.  Davis,  by  a  two- 
thirds  vote  of  the  Senate  and  a  tv/o-thirds  vote  of  the 
House,  be  declared  eligible  and  worthy  to  fill  any  office 
up  to  the  Presidency  of  the  United  States.  For  one, 
upon  full  deliberation,  I  will  not  do  it." 

These  two  speeches  illustrates  the  scope  of  Blaine  in 
debate.  These  speeches  also  clearly  show  why  he  is  so 
dearly  beloved,  or  so  bitterly  hated.  But  that  Mr.  Blaine 
is  an  orator  of  the  first  order  cannot  be  gainsaid.  The 
preceding  speeches  represent  the  highest  attainment  of 
one  ideal  of  an  orator,  and  in  a  role  in  which  Mr.  Blaine 
is  almost  without  parallel.  In  his  ]\Iemorial  address  on 
Garfield,  delivered  in  the  hall  of  the  House  of  Eepre- 
sentatives,  he  presents  the  lofty  style  which  is  the  beau 
ideal  of  oratory.    He  spoke  something  as  follows: 


376  HIDDEN    TREASURES. 

"Mr.  President:  For  the  second  time  in  this  genera- 
tion the  great  departments  of  the  government  of  the 
United  States  are  assembled  in  the  Hall  of  Representa- 
tives to  do  honor  to  the  memory  of  a  murdered  president. 
Lincoln  fell  at  the  close  of  a  mighty  struggle  in  which 
the  passions  of  men  had  been  deeply  stirred.  The 
tragical  termination  of  his  great  life  added  but  another 
to  the  lengthened  succession  of  horrors  which  had  marked 
so  many  lintels  with  the  blood  of  the  first-born.  Gar- 
field was  slain  in  a  day  of  peace,  when  brother  had  been 
reconciled  to  brother,  and  when  anger  and  hate  had  been 
banished  from  the  land.  'Whoever shall  hereafter  draw 
the  portrait  of  murder,  if  he  will  show  it  as  it  has  been  ex- 
hibited wdiere  vSuch  example  was  last  to  have  been  looked 
for,  let  him  not  give  it  the  grim  visage  of  Moloch,  the 
brow  knitted  by  revenge,  the  face  black  with  settled 
hate.  Let  him  draw,  rather,  a  decorous,  smooth-faced, 
bloodless  demon;  not  so  much  an  example  of  human 
nature  in  its  depravity  and  in  its  paroxisms  of  crime,  as 
an  infernal  being,  a  fiend  in  the  ordinary  display  and 
development  of  his  character."        *        *        *        * 

''  His  father  dying  before  he  was  two  years  old,  Gar- 
field's early  life  was  one  of  privation,  but  its  poverty  has 
been  made  indelicately  and  unjustly  prominent.  Thous- 
ands of  readers  have  imagiued  him  as  the  ragged,  starving 
child,  whose  reality  too  often  greets  the  eye  in  the  squalid 
sections  of  our  large  cities.  General  Garfield's  infancy 
and  youth  had  none  of  this  destitution,  none  of  these 
pitiful  features  appealing  to  the  tender  heart,  and  to  the 
open  hand  of  charity.  He  was  a  poor  boy  in  the  same 
sense  in  which  Henry  Clay  was  a  poor  boy;  in  which 
Andrew  Jackson  was  a  poor  boy;  in  which  Daniel  Web- 
ster w^as  a  poor  boy;  in  the  sense  in  which  a  large  major- 


FROM  OBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.         377 

ifcy  of  the  eminent  men  of  America  in  all  generations 
have  been  poor  boys.  Before  a  great  multitude,  in  a 
public  speech,  Mr.  Webster  bore  this  testimony: 

"  ^  It  did  not  happen  to  me  to  be  born  in  a  log  cabin, 
but  my  elder  brothers  and  sisters  were  born  in  a  log 
cabin  raised  amid  the  snow-drifts  of  New  Hampshire,  at 
a  period  so  early  that  when  the  smoke  rose  first  from  its 
rude  chimney  and  curled  over  the  frozen  hills  there  was 
no  similar  evidence  of  a  white  man's  habitation  between 
it  and  the  settlements  on  the  rivers  of  Canada.  Its 
remains  still  exist.  I  make  to  it  an  annual  visit.  I 
carry  my  children  to  it  to  teach  them  the  hardships  en- 
dured by  the  generations  which  have  gone  before  them. 
I  love  to  dwell  on  the  tender  recollections,  the  kindred 
ties,  the  early  affections,  and  the  touching  narratives 
and  incidents  which  mingle  with  all  I  know  of  this  primi- 
tive family  abode.' 

"With  the  requisite  change  of  scene  the  same  words 
would  aptly  portray  the  early  days  of  Garfield.  The 
poverty  of  the  frontier,  where  all  are  engaged  in  a  com- 
mon struggle,  and  where  a  common  sympathy  and 
hearty  co-operation  lighten  the  burdens  of  each,  is  a 
very  different  poverty,  different  in  kind,  different  in  in-  ' 
fluence  and  ,effect,  from  that  conscious  and  humiliating 
indigence  which  is  every  day  forced  to  contrast  itself 
with  neighboring  wealth  on  which  it  feels  a  sense  of 
grinding  dependence.  The  poverty  of  the  frontier  is  in- 
deed no  poverty.  It  is  but  the  beginning  of  wealth,  and 
has  the  boundless  possibilities  of  the  future  always  open- 
ing before  it.  No  man  ever  grew  up  in  the  agricultural 
regions  of  the  West,  where  a  house-raising,  or  even  a 
corn-husking,  is  matter  of  common  interest  and  helpful- 
ness, with  any  other  feeling  than  that  of  broad-minded^ 


o 


78  HIDDEN   TEEASUEES. 


generous  independence.  This  honorable  independence 
marked  the  youth  of  Garfield,  as  it  marks  the  youth  of 
millions  of  the  best  blood  and  brain  now  training  for  tha 
future  citizenship  and  future  government  of  the  Republic, 
Garfield  was  born  heir  to  land,  to  the  title  of  free-holder, 
which  has  been  the  patent  and  passport  of  self-respect 
with  the  Anglo-Saxon  race  ever  since  Hengist  and  Horsa 
landed  on  the  shores  of  England.  His  adventure  on  the 
canal — an  alternative  between  that  and  the  deck  of  a 
Lake  Erie  schooner — was  a  farmer  boy's  device  for  earn- 
mg  money,  just  as  the  New  England  lad  begins  a  possi- 
bly great  career  by  sailing  befor  the  mast  on  a  coasting 
vessel,  or  on  a  merchantman  bound  to  the  farther  ludia 
or  to  the  China  seas. 

"No  manly  man  feels  anything  of  shame  in  looking 
back  to  early  struggles  with  adverse  circumstances,  and 
no  man  feels  a  worthier  pride  than  when  he  has  con- 
quered the  obstacles  to  his  progress.  But  no  one  of  noble 
mould  desires  to  be  looked  upon  as  having  occupied  a 
menial  position,  as  having  been  repressed  by  a  feeling  of 
inferiority,  or  as  having  suffered  the  evils  of  poverty 
until  relief  was  found  at  the  hand  of  charity.  General 
Garfield's  youth  presented  no  hardships  which  family 
love  and  family  energy  did  not  overcome,  subjected  him 
to  no  privations  which  he  did  not  cheerfully  accept,  and 
left  no  memories  save  those  which  were  recalled  with 
delight,  and  transmitted  with  profit  and  with  pride. 

"  Garfield's  early  opportunities  for  securing  an  educa- 
tion were  extremely  limited,  and  yet  were  sufficient  to 
develop  in  him  an  intense  desire  to  learn.  He  could  read 
at  three  years  of  age,  and  each  winter  he  had  the  advant- 
age of  the  district  school.  He  read  all  the  books  to  be 
found  within  the  circle  of  his  acquaintance ;  some  of 


FROM  OBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.         379 

them  he  got  by  heart.  While  yet  in  childhood  he  was  a 
constant  student  of  the  Bible,  and  became  familiar  with 
its  literature.  The  dignity  and  earnestness  of  his  speech 
in  his  maturer  life  gave  evidence  of  this  early  training. 
At  eighteen  years  of  age  he  was  able  to  teach  school, 
and  thenceforward  his  ambition  was  to  obtain  a  college 
education.  To  this  end  he  bent  all  efforts,  working  in 
the  harvest  field,  at  the  carpenter's  bench,  and  in  the 
winter  season,  teaching  the  common  schools  of  the  neigh- 
borhood. While  thus  laboriously  occupied  he  found  time 
to  prosecute  his  studies,  and  was  so  successful  that  at 
twenty-two  years  of  age  he  was  able  to  enter  the  junior 
class  at  Williams  College,  then  under  the  presidency  of 
the  venerable  and  honored  Mark  Hopkins,  who,  in  the 
fullness  of  his  powers,  survives  the  eminent  pupil  to 
whom  he  was  of  inestimable  service. 

''The  history  of  Garfield's  life  to  this  period  presents 
no  novel  features.  He  had  undoubtedly  shown  perse- 
verance, self-reliance,  self-sacrifice,  and  ambition — 
qualities  which,  be  it  said  for  the  honor  of  our  country, 
are  everywhere  to  be  found  among  the  young  men  of 
America.  But  from  his  graduation  at  Williams,  onward 
to  the  hour  of  his  tragical  death,  Garfield's  career  was 
eminent  and  exceptional.  Slowly  working  through  his 
educational  period,  receiving  his  diploma  when  twenty- 
four  years  of  age,  he  seemed  at  one  bound  to  spring  into 
conspicuous  and  brilliant  success.  Within  six  years  he 
was  successively  President  of  a  College,  State  Senator  of 
Ohio,  Major-General  of  the  Army  of  the  United  States  and 
Eepresentative-eiect  to  the  National  Congress.  A  com- 
bination of  honors  so  varied,  so  elevated,  within  a  period 
so  brief  and  to  a  man  so  young,  is  without  precedent  or 
parallel  in  the  history  of  the  country. 


3S0  HIDDEN  TREASURES. 

''Garfield's  army  life  ^vas  begun  with  no  other  mili- 
tar^^  knowledge  than  such  as  he  had  hastily  gained  from 
books  in  the  few  months  preceding  his  march  to  the 
field.  Stepping  from  civil  life  to  the  head  of  a  regi- 
ment, the  first  order  he  received  when  ready  to  cross  the 
Ohio  was  to  assume  command  of  a  brigade,  and  to  operate 
as  an  independent  force  in  eastern  Kentucky.  His  im- 
m.ediate  duty  was  to  check  the  advance  of  Humprey 
Marshall,  who  was  marching  down  the  Big  Sandy  with 
the  intention  of  occuping,  in  connection  with  other  Con- 
federate forces,  the  entire  territory  of  Kentucky,  and  of 
precipitating  the  State  into  secession.  This  was  at  the 
close  of  the  year  1861.  Seldom,  if  ever,  has  a  young 
college  professor  been  thrown  into  a  more  embarassing 
and  discouraging  position.  He  knew  just  enough  of 
military  science,  as  he  expressed  it  himself,  to  measure 
the  extent  of  his  ignorance,  and  with  a  handful  of  men 
he  was  marching,  in  rough  winter  weather,  into  a  strange 
country,  among  a  hostile  population,  to  confront  a 
largel}^  superior  force  under  the  command  of  a  distin- 
guished graduate  of  West  Point,  who  had  seen  active 
and  important  service  in  two  preceding  wars. 

"The  result  of  the  campaign  is  matter  of  history. 
The  skill,  the  endurance,  the  extraordinary  energy  shown 
by  Garfield,  the  courage  he  imparted  to  his  men,  raw  and 
untried  as  himself,  the  measures  he  adopted  to  increase 
his  force,  and  to  create  in  the  enemy's  mind  exaggerated 
estimates  of  his  numbers,  bore  perfect  fruit  in  the  rout- 
ing of  Marshall,  the  capture  of  his  camp,  the  dispersion 
of  his  force,  and  the  emancipation  of  an  important  terri- 
tory from  the  control  of  the  rebellion.  Coming  at  the 
close  of  a  long  series  of  disasters  to  the  Union  arms, 
Garfield's  victory  had  an  unusual  and  extraneous  import- 


FROM  OBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.         381 

ance,  and  in  the  popular  judgment  elevated  the  young 
commander  to  the  rank  of  a  military  hero.  With  less 
than  two  thousand  men  in  his  entire  command,  with  a 
mobilized  force  of  only  eleven  hundred,  without  cannon, 
he  had  met  an  army  of  five  thousand  and  defeated  them, 
driving  Marshall's  forces  successively  from  two  strong- 
holds of  their  own  selection,  fortified  with  abundant 
artillery.  Major-General  Buell,  commanding  the  Depart- 
ment of  the  Ohio,  an  experienced  and  able  soldier  of  the 
Regular  Army,  published  an  order  of  thanks  and  con^ 
gratulation  on  the  brilliant  result  of  the  Big  Sandy  Cam- 
paign, which  would  have  turned  the  head  of  a  less  cool 
and  sensible  man  than  Garfield.  Buell  declared  that  his 
services  had  called  into  action  the  highest  qualities  of  a 
soldier,  and  President  Lincoln  supplemented  these  words 
of  praise  by  the  more  substantial  reward  of  a  Brigadier- 
GeneraFs  Commission,  to  bear  date  from  the  day  of  his 
decisive  victory  over  Marshall. 

"  The  subsequent  military  career  of  Garfield  f  ally  sus- 
tained its  brilliant  beginning.  With  his  new  commission 
he  was  assigned  to  the  command  of  a  brigade  in  the 
Army  of  the  Ohio,  and  took  part  in  the  second  and 
decisive  day's  fight  on  the  bloody  field  of  Shiloh.  The 
remainder  of  the  year  1862  was  not  especially  eventful 
to  Garfield,  as  it  was  not  to  the  armies  with  which  he 
was  serving.  His  practical  sense  was  called  into  exer- 
cise in  completing  the  task,  assigned  him  by  General 
Buell,  of  reconstructing  bridges  and  re-establishing  lines 
of  railway  communication  for  the  army.  His  occupa- 
tion in  this  useful  but  not  brilliant  field  was  varied  by 
service  on  courts-martial  of  importance,  in  which  depart- 
ment  of  duty  he  won  a  valuable  reputation,  attracting 
the  notice  and  securing  the  approval  of  the  able  and 


3S2  HIDDEN   TREASURES. 

eminent  Judge  Advocate  General  of  the  army.  This  of 
itself  was  warrant  to  honorable  fame  ;  for  among  the 
great  men  who  in  those  trying  days  gave  themselves, 
with  entire  devotion,  to  the  service  of  their  country,  one 
who  brought  to  that  service  the  ripest  learning,  the  most 
fervid  eloquence,  the  most  varied  attainments,  who 
labored  with  modesty  and  shunned  applause,  who,  in  the 
day  of  triumph,  sat  reserved  and  silent  and  grateful — as 
Francis  Deak  in  the  hour  of  Hungary's  deliverance — was 
Joseph  Holt,  of  Kentucky,  who,  in  his  honorable  retire- 
ment, enjoys  the  respect  and  veneration  of  all  who  love 
the  Union  of  the  States. 

"Early  in  1863  Garfield  was  assigned  to  the  highly 
important  and  responsible  post  of  Chief  of  Staff  to  Gen- 
eral Rosecrans,  then  at  the  head  of  the  Army  of  the 
Cumberland.    Perhaps  in  a  great  military  campaign  no 
subordinate  officer  requires  sounder  judgment  and  quicker 
knowledge  of  men  than  the  Chief  of  Staff  to  the  Com- 
manding General.    An  indiscrete  man  in  such  a  position 
can  sow  more  discord,  breed  more  jealousy,  and  dissem- 
inate more  strife  than  any  other  officer  in  the  entire 
organization.    When  General  Garfield  assumed  his  new 
duties  he  found  various  troubles  already  well  developed 
and  seriously  affecting  the  value  and  efficiency  of  the 
Army  of  the  Cumberland.     The  energy,  the  impartiality, 
and  the  tact  with  which  he  sought  to  allay  these  dissen- 
sions, and  to  discharge  the  duties,  of  his  new  and  trying 
position,  will  always  remain  one  of  the  most  striking 
proofs  of  his  great  versatility.  His  military  duties  closed 
on  the  memorable  field  of  Chickamauga,  a  field  which, 
however  disastrous  to  the  Union  arms,  gave  to  him  the 
occasion  of  winning  imperishable  laurels.     The   very 
rare  distinction  was  accorded  him  of  a  great  promotion 


FROM  OBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.        383 

for  bravery  on  a  field  that  was  lost.  President  Lincoln 
appointed  him  a  Major-General  in  the  Army  of  the 
United  States,  for  gallant  and  meritorious  conduct  in  the 
battle  of  Chickamauga. 

*'The  Army  of  the  Cumberland  was  reorganized  under 
the  command  of  General  Thomas,  who  promptly  offered 
Garfield  one  of  its  divisions.  He  was  extremely  desirous 
to  accept  the  position,  but  was  embarrassed  by  the  fact 
that  he  had,  a  year  before,  been  elected  to  Congress,  and 
the  time  when  he  must  take  his  seat  was  drawing  near. 
He  preferred  to  remain  in  the  military  service,  and  had 
within  his  own  breast  the  largest  confidence  of  success 
in  the  wider  field  which  his  new  rank  opened  to  him. 
Balancing  the  arguments  on  the  one  side  and  the  other, 
anxious  to  determine  what  was  for  the  best,  desirous 
above  all  things  to  do  his  patriotic  duty,  he  was  deci- 
sively influenced  by  the  advice  of  President  Lincoln  and 
Secretary  Stanton,  both  of  whom  assured  him  that  he 
could,  at  that  time,  be  of  especial  value  in  the  House  of 
Eepresentatives.  He  resigned  his  commission  of  major- 
general  on  the  5th  day  of  December,  1863,  and  took  his 
seat  in  the  House  of  Representatives  on  the  7th.  He 
had  served  two  years  and  four  months  in  the  army,  and 
had  just  completed  his  thirty-second  year. 

^'The  Thirty-eighth  Congress  is  pre-eminently  entitled 
in  history  to  the  designation  of  the  War  Congress.  It 
was  elected  while  the  war  was  flagrant,  and  every  mem- 
ber was  chosen  upon  the  issues  involved  in  the  continu- 
ance of  the  struggle.  The  Thirty-seventh  Congress  had, 
indeed,  legislated  to  a  large  extent  on  war  measures, 
but  it  was  chosen  before  any  one  believed  that  secession 
of  the  States  would  be  actually  attempted.  The  mag- 
nitude of  the  work  which  fell  upon  its  successor  was 


384  HIDDEN    TREASURES. 

unprecedented,  both  in  respect  to  the  vast  sums  of  money 
raised  for  the  support  of  the  army  and  navy,  and  of  the 
new  and  extraordinary  powers  of  legislation  which  it 
was  forced  to  exercise.  Only  twenty-four  States  were 
represented,  and  one  hundred  and  eighty-two  members 
were  upon  its  roll.  Among  these  were  many  distin- 
guished party  leaders  on  both  sides,  veterans  in  the  pub- 
lic service,  with  established  reputations  for  ability,  and 
with  that  skill  which  comes  only  from  parliamentary 
experience.  Into  this  assemblage  of  men  Garlield  entered 
without  special  preparation,  and,  it  might  almost  be 
said,  unexpectedly.  The  question  of  taking  command 
of  a  division  of  troops  under  General  Thomas,  or  taking 
his  seat  in  Congress,  was  kept  open  till  the  last  moment, 
so  late,  indeed,  that  the  resignation  of  his  military  com- 
mission and  his  appearance  in  the  House  were  almost 
contemporaneous.  He  wore  the  uniform  of  a  major- 
general  of  the  United  States  Army  on  Saturday,  and  on 
Monday,  in  civilian's  dress,  he  answered  to  roll-call  as  a 
Representative  in  Congress  from  the  State  of  Ohio. 

"He  was  especially  fortunate  in  the  constiuency  which 
elected  him.  Descended  almost  entirely  from  New  Eng- 
land stock,  the  men  of  the  Ashtabula  district  were  in- 
tensely radical  on  all  questions  relating  to  human  rights. 
Well  educated,  thrifty,  thoroughly  intelligent  in  affairs, 
acutely  discerning  of  character,  not  quick  to  bestow  con- 
fidence, and  slow  to  withdraw  it,  they  were  at  once  the 
most  helpful  and  most  exacting  of  supporters.  Thoir 
tenacious  trust  in  men  in  whom  they  have  once  confided 
is  illustrated  by  the  unparalleled  fact  thatElisha  Whittle- 
sey, Joshua  E,.  Giddings,  and  James  A.  Garfield  repre- 
sented the  district  for  fifty-four  years. 

"There  is  no  test  of  a  man's  ability  in  any  department 


FROM  OBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.         885 

of  public  life  more  severe  than  service  in  the  House  of 
Representatives ;  there  is  no  place  where  so  little  defer- 
ence is  paid  to  reputation  previously  acquired  or  to 
eminence  won  outside ;  no  place  where  so  little  consid- 
eration is  shown  for  the  feelings  or  the  failures  of  be- 
ginners. What  a  man  gains  in  the  House  he  gains  by 
sheer  force  of  his  own  character,  and  if  he  loses  and 
falls  back  he  must  expect  no  mercy,  and  will  receive  no 
sympathy.  It  is  a  field  in  which  the  survival  of  the 
strongest  is  the  recognized  rule,  and  where  no  pretense 
can  deceive  and  no  glamour  can  mislead.  The  real  man 
is  discovered,  his  worth  is  impartially  weighed,  his  rank 
is  irreversibly  decreed. 

"With  possibly  a  single  exception,  Garfield  was  the 
youngest  member  in  the  House  when  he  entered,  and 
was  but  seven  years  from  his  college  graduation.  But 
he  had  not  been  in  his  seat  sixty  days  before  his  ?.bility 
was  recognized  and  his  place  conceded.  He  stepped  to 
the  front  with  the  confidence  of  one  who  belonged  there. 
The  House  was  crowded  with  strong  men  of  both  parties ; 
nineteen  of  them  have  since  been  transferred  to  the 
Senate,  and  many  of  them  have  served  with  distinction 
in  the  gubernatorial  chairs  of  their  respective  States, 
and  on  foreign  missions  of  great  consequence;  but 
among  them  all  none  grew  so  rapidly,  none  so  firmly,  as 
Garfield.  As  is  said  by  Trevelyan,  of  his  parliamentary 
hero,  Garfield  succeeded  ^because  all  the  world  in  con- 
cert could  not  have  kept  him  in  the  back-ground,  and 
beeause  when  once  in  the  front  he  played  his  part  with 
a  prompt  intrepidity  and  a  commanding  ease  that  were 
but  the  outward  symptoms  of  the  immense  reserves  of 
energy  on  which  it  was  in  his  power  to  draw.'  Indeed, 
the  apparently  reserved  force  which  Garfield  possessed 


386  HIDDEN   TREASURES. 

was  one  of  his  great  characteristics.  He  never  did  so  well 
but  that  it  seemed  he  could  easily  have  done  better.  He 
never  expended  so  much  strength  but  that  he  appeared 
to  be  holding  additional  power  at  call.  This  is  one  of 
the  happiest  and  rarest  distinctions  of  an  effective  de- 
bater, and  often  counts  for  as  much,  in  persuading  an 
assembly,  as  the  eloquent  and  elaborate  argument. 

"  The  great  measure  of  Garfield's  fame  was  filled  by 
his  service  in  the  House  of  Representatives.  His  military 
life,  illustrated  by  honorable  performance,  and  rich  in 
promise,  was,  as  he  himself  felt,  prematurely  terminated, 
and  necessarily  incomplete.  Speculation  as  to  what  he 
might  have  done  in  a  field  where  the  great  prizes  are  so 
few,  cannot  be  profitable.  It  is  sufficient  to  say  that  as 
a  soldier  he  did  his  duty  bravely ;  he  did  it  intelligently; 
he  won  an  enviable  fame,  and  he  retired  from  the  service 
without  blot  or  breath  against  him.  As  a  lawyer, 
though  admirably  equipped  for  the  profession,  he  can 
scarcely  be  said  to  have  entered  on  its  practice.  The  few 
efforts  he  made  at  the  bar  were  distinguished  by  the 
same  high  order  of  talent  which  he  exhibited  on  every 
field  where  he  was  put  to  the  test ;  and,  if  a  man  may 
be  accepted  as  a  competent  judge  of  his  own  capacities 
and  adaptations,  the  law  was  the  profession  to  which 
Garfield  should  have  devoted  himself.  But  fate  ordained 
otherwise,  and  his  reputation  in  history  will  rest  largely 
upon  his  service  in  the  House  of  Representatives.  That 
service  was  exceptionally  long.  He  was  nine  times  con- 
secutively chosen  to  the  House,  an  honor  enjoyed  proba- 
bly by  not  twenty  other  Representatives  of  the  more 
than  five  thousand  who  have  been  elected,  from  the 
organization  of  the  government,  to  this  hour. 

"As  a  parliamentary  orator,  as  a  debater  on  an  issue 


FROM  OBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.         387 

squarely  joined,  where  the  position  had  been  chosen  and 
the  ground  laid  out,  Garfield  must  be  assigned  a  very 
high  rank.  More,  perhaps,  than  any  man  with  whom  he 
was  associated  in  public  life,  he  gave  careful  and  system- 
atic study  to  public  questions,  and  he  came  to  every  dis- 
cussion in  which  he  took  part  with  elaborate  and  com- 
plete preparation.  He  was  a  steady  and  indefatigable 
worker.  Those  who  imagine  that  talent  or  genius  can 
supply  the  place  or  achieve  the  results  of  labor  will  find 
no  encouragement  in  Garfield's  life.  In  preliminary 
work  he  was  apt,  rapid  and  skillful.  He  possessed  in  a 
high  degree  the  power  of  readily  absorbing  ideas  and 
facts,  and,  like  Dr.  Johnson,  had  the  art  of  getting  from 
a  book  all  that  was  of  value  in  it  by  a  reading  appar- 
ently so  quick  and  cursory  that  it  seemed  like  a  mere 
glance  at  the  table  of  contents.  He  was  a  pre-eminently 
fair  and  candid  man  in  debate,  took  no  petty  advantage, 
stooped  to  no  unworthy  methods,  avoided  personal  allu- 
sions, rarely  appealed  to  prejudice,  did  not  seek  to  in- 
flame passion.  He  had  a  quicker  eye  for  the  strong 
point  of  his  adversary  than  for  his  weak  point,  and  on 
his  own  side  he  so  marshalled  his  weighty  arguments  as 
to  make  his  hearers  forget  any  possible  lack  in  the  com- 
plete strength  of  his  position.  He  had  a  habit  of  stating 
his  opponent's  side  with  such  amplitude  of  fairness  and 
such  liberality  of  concession  that  his  followers  often 
complained  that  he  was  giving  his  case  away.  But  never 
in  his  prolonged  participation  in  the  proceedings  of  the 
House  did  he  give  his  case  away,  or  fail  in  the  judgment 
of  competent  and  impartial  listeners  to  gain  the  mastery. 
"  These  characteristics,  which  marked  Garfield  as  a 
great  debater,  did  not,  however,  make  him  a  great  parlia- 
mentary leader.    A  parliamentary  leader,  as  that  term 


388  HIDDEN  TEEA8URES. 

is  understood  wherever  free  representative  government 
exists,  is  necessarily  and  very  strictly  the  organ  of  his. 
party.  An  ardent  American  defined  the  instinctive 
warmth  of  patriotism  when  he  offered  the  toast,  'Our 
country,  always  right;  but  right  or  wrong,  our  country.' 
The  parliamentary  leader  who  has  a  body  of  followers  that 
will  do  and  dare  and  die  for  the  cause,  is  one  who  be- 
lieves his  party  always  right,  but  right  or  wrong,  is  for 
his  party.  No  more  important  or  exacting  duty  devolves 
upon  him  than  the  selection  of  the  field  and  the  time 
for  contest.  He  must  know  not  merely  how  to 
strike,  but  where  to  strike  and  when  to  strike. 
He  often  skillfully  avoids  the  strength  of  his  oppo' 
nent's  position,  and  scatters  confusion  in  his  ranks  by 
attacking  an  exposed  point  when  really  the  righteousness 
of  the  cause  and  the  strength  of  logical  intrenchment  are 
against  him.  He  conquers  often  both  against  the  right 
and  the  heavy  battalions  ;  as  when  young  Charles  Fox, 
in  the  days  of  his  Toryism,  carried  the  House  of  Com- 
mons against  justice,  against  its  immemorial  rights, 
against  his  own  convictions,  if,  indeed,  at  that  period 
Fox  had  convictions,  and,  in  the  interest  of  a  corrupt 
administration,  in  obedience  to  a  tyrannical  sovereign, 
drove  Wilkes  from  the  seat  to  which  the  electors  of  Mid- 
dlesex had  chosen  him,  and  installed  Luttrell,  in  defiance 
not  merely  of  law  but  of  public  decency.  For  an  achieve- 
ment of  that  kind  Garfield  was  disqualified — disqualified 
by  the  texture  of  his  mind,  by  the  honesty  of  his  heart, 
by  his  conscience,  and  by  every  instinct  and  aspiration 
of  his  nature. 

''The  three  most  distinguished  parliamentary  leaders 
hitherto  developed  in  this  country  are  Mr.  Clay,  Mr. 
Douglas,  and  Mr.  Thaddeus  Stevens.    They  were  all  men 


FROM  OBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.         389 

of  consummate  ability,  of  great  earnestness,  of  intense 
personality,  differing  widely  each  from  the  others,  and 
yet  with  a  signal  trait  in  common — the  power  to  com- 
mand. In  the  give-and-take  of  daily  discussion,  in  the 
art  of  controlling  and  consolidating  reluctant  and  refrac- 
tory followers,  in  the  skill  to  overcome  all  forms  of 
opposition,  and  to  meet  with  competency  and  courage 
the  varying  phases  of  unlooked-for  assault  or  unsus- 
pected defection,  it  would  be  diflS.cult  to  rank  with  these 
a  fourth  name  in  all  our  Congressional  history.  But  of 
these  Mr.  Clay  was  the  greatest.  It  would,  perhaps,  be 
impossible  to  find  in  the  parliamental  annals  of  the 
world  a  parallel  to  Mr.  Clay,  in  1841,  when  at  sixty-four 
years  of  age  he  took  the  control  of  the  Whig  party  from 
the  President  who  had  received  their  suffrages,  against 
the  power  of  Webster  in  the  Cabinet,  against  the  elo- 
quence of  Choate  in  the  Senate,  against  the  herculean 
efforts  of  Caleb  Cushing  and  Henry  A.  Wise  in  the  House. 
In  unshared  leadership,  in  the  pride  and  plentitude  of 
power,  he  hurled  against  John  Tyler,  with  deepest  scorn 
the  mass  of  that  conquering  column  which  had  swept 
over  the  land  in  1840,  and  drove  his  administration  to 
seek  shelter  behind  the  lines  of  its  political  foes.  Mr. 
Douglas  achieved  a  victory  scarcely  less  wonderful,  when 
in  1854,  against  the  secret  desires  of  a  strong  adminis- 
tration, against  the  wise  counsel  of  the  older  chiefs, 
against  the  conservative  instincts,  and  even  the  moral 
sense  of  the  country,  he  forced  a  reluctant  Congress  into 
a  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Compromise.  Mr.  Stevens,  in 
his  contests  from  1865  to  1868,  actually  advanced  his 
parliamentary  leadership  until  Congress  tied  the  hands 
of  the  President  and  governed  the  country  by  its  own 
will,  leaving  only  perfunctory  duties  to  be  discharged 


390  HIDDEN   TREASURES. 

by  the  Executive.  With  two  hundred  millions  of  patron- 
age in  his  hands  at  the  opening  of  the  contest,  aided  by 
the  active  force  of  Seward  in  the  Cabinet,  and  the  moral 
power  of  Chase  on  the  bench,  Andrew  Johnson  could  not 
command  the  support  of  one-third  in  either  House  against 
the  parliamentary  uprising  of  which  Thaddeus  Stevens 
was  the  animating  spirit  and  the  unquestioned  leader. 

"From  these  three  great  men  Garfield  differed  radi- 
cally, differed  in  the  quality  of  his  mind,  in  temperament, 
in  the  form  and  phase  of  ambition.  He  could  not  da 
what  they  did,  but  he  could  do  what  they  could  not,  and 
in  the  breadth  of  his  Congressional  work  he  left  that 
which  will  longer  exert  a  potential  influence  among  men, 
and  which,  measured  by  the  severe  test  of  posthumous 
criticism,  will  secure  a  more  enduring  and  more  enviable 

fame. 

"Those  unfamiliar  with  Garfield's  industry,  and  igno- 
rant of  the  details  of  his  work  may,  in  some  degree, 
measure  them  by  the  annals  of  Congress.  No  one  of  the 
generation  of  public  men  to  which  he  belonged  has  con- 
tributed so  much  that  will  prove  valuable  for  future 
reference.  His  speeches  are  numerous,  many  of  them 
brilliant,  all  of  them  well  studied,  carefully  phrazed,  and 
exhaustive  of  the  subject  under  consideration.  Collected 
from  the  scattered  pages  of  ninety  royal  octavo  volumes 
of  Congressional  record,  they  would  present  an  invalua- 
ble compendium  of  the  political  events  of  the  most  im- 
portant era  through  which  the  National  government  has 
ever  passed.  When  the  history  of  this  period  shall  be 
impartially  written,  when  war  legislation,  measures 
of  reconstruction,  protection  of  human  rights,  amend- 
ments to  the  Constitution,  maintenance  of  public 
credit,  steps  toward  specie  resumption,  true  theories  of 


FROM  OBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.         391 

revenue,  may  be  reviewed,  unsurrounded  by  prejudice 
and  disconnected  from  partisanism,  the  speeches  of  Gar- 
field will  be  estimated  at  their  true  value,  and  will  be 
fouad  to  comprise  a  vast  magazine  of  fact  and  argument, 
of  clear  analysis  and  sound  conclusion.  Indeed,  if  no 
other  authority  were  accessible,  his  speeches  in  the 
House  of  Representatives  from  December,  1863,  to  June, 
1880,  would  give  a  well-connected  histor5^  and  complete 
defense  of  the  important  legislation  of  the  seventeen 
eventful  years  that  constitute  his  parliamentary  life. 
Far  beyond  that,  his  speeches  would  be  found  to  fore- 
cast many  great  measures  yet  to  be  completed — measures 
which  he  knew  were  beyond  the  public  opinion  of  the 
hour,  but  which  he  confidently  believed  would  secure 
popular  approval  within  the  period  of  his  own  lifetime, 
and  by  the  aid  of  his  own  efforts. 

"Differing  as  Garfield  does,  from  the  brilliant  parlia- 
mentary leaders,  it  is  not  easy  to  find  his  counterpart 
anywhere  in  the  record  of  American  public  life.  He, 
perhaps,  more  nearly  resembles  Mr.  Seward  in  his 
supreme  faith  in  the  all-conquering  power  of  a  principle. 
He  had  the  love  of  learning,  and  the  patient  industry  of 
investigation,  to  which  John  Quincy  Adams  owes  his 
prominence  and  his  presidency.  He  had  some  of  those 
ponderous  elements  of  mind  which  distinguished  Mr. 
Webster,  and  which,  indeed,  in  all  our  public  life  have 
left  the  great  Massachusetts  Senator  without  an  intel- 
lectual peer. 

"In  English  parliamentary  history,  as  in  our  own, 
the  leaders  in  the  House  of  Commons  present  points  of 
essential  difference  from  Garfield.  But  some  of  his 
methods  recall  the  best  features  in  the  strong,  indepen- 
dent course  of  Sir  Robert  Peel,  to  whom  he  had  striking 


392  HIDDEN    TREASURES. 

resemblances  in  the  type  of  his  mind  and  in  the  habit  of 
his  speech.  He  had  all  of  Burke's  love  for  the  sublime 
and  the  beautif  al  with,  possibly,  something  of  his  super- 
abundance. In  his  faith  and  his  magnanimity,  in  his 
power  of  statement,  in  his  subtle  analysis,  in  his  fault- 
less logic,  in  his  love  of  literature,  in  his  wealth  and 
world  of  illustration,  one  is  reminded  of  that  great 
English  statesman  of  to-day,  who,  confronted  with  ob- 
stacles that  would  daunt  any  but  the  dauntless,  reviled 
by  those  whom  he  would  relieve  as  bitterly  as  by  those 
whose  supposed  rights  he  is  forced  to  invade,  still  labors 
with  serene  courage  for  the  amelioration  of  Ireland  and 
for  the  honor  of  the  English  name. 

"Garfield's  nomination  to  the  presidency,  while  not 
predicted  or  anticipated,  was  not  a  surprise  to  the 
country.  His  prominence  in  Congress,  his  solid  qualities, 
his  wide  reputation,  strengthened  by  his  then  recent 
©lection  as  Senator  from  Ohio,  kept  him  in  the  public 
eye  as  a  man  occupying  the  very  highest  rank  among 
those  entitled  to  be  called  statesmen.  It  was  not  mere 
chance  that  brought  him  this  high  honor.  *We  must,' 
says  Mr.  Emerson,  ^reckon  success  a  constitutional  trait. 
If  Eric  is  in  robust  health  and  has  slept  well  and  is  at 
the  top  of  his  condition,  and  thirty  years  old  at  his 
departure  from  Greenland,  he  will  steer  west  and  his 
ships  will  reach  Newfoundland.  But  take  Eric  out  and 
put  in  a  stronger  and  bolder  man,  and  the  ships  will  sail 
six  hundred,  one  thousand,  fifteen  hundred  miles  farther 
and  reach  Labrador  and  New  England.  There  is  no 
chance  in  results.' 

"As  a  candidate,  Garfield  steadily  grew  in  popular 
favor.  He  was  met  with  a  storm  of  detraction  at  the 
very  hour  of  his  nomination,  and  it  continued  with  in- 


FEOM  OBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.         393 

creasing  volume  and  momentum  until  the  close  of  his 
victorious  campaign : 

No  might  nor  greatness  in  mortality 
Can  censure  'scape ;  backwounding  calumny 
The  whitest  virtue  strikes.     What  king  so  strong 
Can  tie  Ihe  gall  up  in  the  slanderous  tongue? 
********* 

"Surely,  if  happiness  can  ever  come  from  the  honors 
or  triumphs  of  this  world,  on  that  quiet  July  morning, 
James  A.  Garfield  may  well  have  been  a  happy  man.  No 
foreboding  of  evil  haunted  him ;  no  slightest  premoni- 
tion of  danger  clouded  his  sky.  His  terrible  fate  was 
upon  him  in  an  instant.  One  moment  he  stood  erect, 
strong,  confident  in  the  years  stretching  peacefully  out 
before  him.  The  next  he  lay  wounded,  bleeding,  help- 
less, doomed  to  weary  weeks  of  torture,  to  silence,  and 
the  grave. 

"Great  in  life,  he  was  surpassingly  great  in  death. 
For  no  cause,  in  the  very  frenzy  of  wantonness  and  wick- 
edness, by  the  red  hand  of  murder,  he  was  thrust  from 
the  full  tide  of  this  world's  interests,  from  its  hopes,  its 
aspirations,  its  victories,  into  the  visible  presence  of 
death — and  he  did  not  quail.  Not  alone  for  the  one  short 
moment  in  which,  stunned  and  dazed,  he  could  give  up 
life,  hardly  aware  of  its  relinquishment,  but  through  days 
of  deadly  languor,  through  weeks  of  agony,  that  was  not 
less  agony  because  silently  borne,  with  clear  sight  and 
calm  courage,  he  looked  into  his  open  grave.  What 
blight  and  ruin  met  his  anguished  eyes,  whose  lips  may 
tell — what  brilliant,  broken  plans,  what  baffled,  high 
ambitions,  what,  sundering  of  strong,  warm,  manhood's 
friendships,  what  bitter  rending  of  sweet  household  ties ! 
Behind  him  a  proud  expectant  nation,  a  great  host  of 
sustaining  friends,  a  cherished  and  happy  mother,  wear- 


?94  HIDDEN   TREASURES. 

ing  the  full,  rich  honors  of  her  early  toil  and  tears;  the 
wife  of  his  youth,  whose  whole  life  lay  in  his;  the  little 
boys  not  yet  emerged  from  childhood's  day  of  frolic; 
bhe  fair  young  daughter;  the  sturdy  sons  just  springing 
into  closest  companionship,  claiming  every  day,  and  every 
day  rewarding  a  father's  love  and  care  ;  and  in  his  heart 
the  eager,  rejoicing  power  to  meet  all  demand.  Before 
him,  desolation  and  great  darkness  !  And  his  soul  was 
not  shaken.  His  countrymen  were  thrilled  with  instant, 
profound  and  universal  sympathy.  Masterful  in  his 
mortal  weakness,  he  became  the  center  of  a  nation's 
love,  enshrined  in  the  prayers  of  a  world.  But  all  the 
love  and  all  the  sympathy  could  not  share  with  him  his 
suffering.  He  trod  the  wine-press  alone.  With  unfalter- 
ing front  he  faced  death.  With  unfailing  tenderness  he 
took  leave  of  life.  Above  the  demoniac  hiss  of  the 
assassin^s  bullet  he  heard  the  voice  of  God.  With  simple 
resignation  he  bowed  to  the  Divine  decree. 

"As  the  end  drew  near,  his  early  cravings  for  the  sea 
returned.  The  stately  mansion  of  power  had  been  to 
him  the  wearisome  hospital  of  pain,  and  he  begged  to 
be  taken  from  its  prison  walls,  from  its  oppressive,  sti- 
fling air,  from  ite  homelessness  and  its  hopelessness. 
Gently,  silently,  the  love  of  a  great  people  bore  the  pale 
sufferer  to  the  longed-for  healing  of  the  sea,  to  live  or  to 
die,  as  God  should  will,  within  sight  of  its  heaving 
billows,  within  sound  of  its  manifold  voices.  With  wan, 
fevered  face,  tenderly  lifted  to  the  cooling  breeze,  he 
looked  out  wistfully  upon  the  ocean's  changing  wonders; 
on  its  fair  sails,  whitening  in  the  morning  light ;  on  its 
restless  waves,  rolling  shoreward,  to  break  and  die  be- 
neath the  noonday  sun ;  on  the  red  clouds  of  evening, 
arching  low  to  the  horizon ;  on  the  serene  and  shining 


FROM  OBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.         395 

pathway  of  the  stars.  Let  us  think  that  his  dying  eyes 
read  a  mystic  meaning  which  only  the  rapt  and  parting 
soul  may  know.  Let  us  believe  that  in  the  silence  of 
the  receding  world  be  heard  the  great  waves  breaking  on 
a  farther  shore,  and  felt  already  upon  his  wasted  brow 
the  breath  of  the  eternal  morning." 

We  regret  that  we  cannot  give  our  readers  the  full 
speech  here  also,  but  it  is  sufficient  to  say  that  it  was  a 
masterly  production.  We  give  these  three  extracts  from 
speeches  to  show,  and  enable  the  thinker  to  read  and 
study  the  characteristics  which  make  Mr.  Blaine  the 
great  and  renowned  man  that  he  really  is  to-day;  an 
honor  he  has  earned  for  himself. 

We  do  not  desire  to  be  regarded  as  a  personal  admirer 
of  Mr.  Blaine.  We  are  not,  but  his  ability  we  are  in 
duty  bound  to  delineate  truthfully.  Our  readers  will 
observe  the  description  Mr.  Blaine  gives  in  his  address 
on  Garfield,  of  the  qualifications  necessary  in  a  parlia- 
mentary leader.  We  will  say  nothing  as  to  our  opinion 
of  some  enterprises  in  which  Mr.  Blaine  has  engaged; 
and  we  will  not  ask  him  to  explain,  what  he  has  never 
satisfactorily  explained,  in  relation  to  some  transactions, 
nor  will  we  try  to  explain,  in  our  short  space,  his  skill- 
fullness  in  parliamentary  practice.  As  before  said,  our 
readers  have  read  his  description  of  a  parliamentary 
leader,  and  we  will  further  simply  say  that  Mr.  Blaine  is 
one  of  the  most  skillful  parliamentary  leaders  in  the 
country.  He  is  generally  recognized  as  such  by  all 
parties.  His  canvass  for  the  presidency  is  well-known 
to  the  people.  Had  he  been  elected  he  would,  undoubtedly, 
have  made  a  very  satisfactory  president,  probably  one 
of  whom  we  would  long  have  been  proud. 


396  HIDDEN   TREASUEES. 


Samuel  J.  Tilden. 


IN  1814  there  was  born  at  New  Lebanon,  New  York,  an 
infant  son  to  Elam  Tilden,  a  prosperous  farmer.  His 
father,  being  a  personal  and  political  friend  of  Mr.  Van 
Buren  and  other  members  of  the  celebrated  'Albany 
Eegency';  his  home  wa-s  made  a  kind  of  headquarters  for 
various  members  of  that  council  to  whose  conversation 
the  precocious  child  enjoyed  to  listen. 

Mr.  Tilden  declared  of  himself  that  he  had  no  youth. 
As  a  boy  he  was  diffident,  and  was  studying  and  investi- 
gating when  others  were  playing  and  enjoying  the  pleas- 
ures of  society.  From  the  beginning  he  was  a  calculator. 
Martin  Van  Buren,  to  whom  he  was  greatly  attached, 
often  spoke  of  him  as  *The  sagacious  Sammy.' 

Thrown  into  contact  with  such  men  at  his  parent's 
home,  he  early  evinced  a  fondness  for  politics  which  first 
revealed  itself  in  an  essay  on  *The  Political  Aspect,'  dis- 
playing ability  far  beyond  one  of  his  years,  which  was 
printed  in  the  Albany  Argus,  and  which  was  attributed 
to  Mr.  Van  Buren,  at  that  time  the  leader  of  the  Albany 
Kegency. 

At  twenty  he  entered  Yale  College,  but  ill-health  com- 
pelled his  return  home.  He,  however,  afterward  resumed! 
his  studies  at  the  University  of  New  York  ;  graduating 
from  that  instution  he  began  the  practice  of  law.  At 
the  bar  he  became  known  as  a  sound,  but  not  especially 
brilliant  pleader.  In  1866  he  was  chosen  Chairman  of 
the  State  Committee  of  his  party.  In  1870-1,  he  was 
largely  instrumental  in  unearthing  frauds  perpetrated  in 


FROM  OBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.         397 

the  city  of  New  York,  and  in  1874  was  elected  the  *ref  orm 
governor'  of  the  great  Empire  State.  Although  in 
political  discord  with  Mr.  Tilden,  it  is  in  no  disparaging 
sense  that  we  speak  of  him.  It  is  in  the  sense  of  a  his- 
torian bound  and  obligated  to  truth  that  we  view  him. 
We  regard  him  as  the  mysterious  statesman  of  Ameri- 
can HISTORY. 

His  personal  character  was,  to  a  great  extent,  shrouded 
from  the  public  in  a  veil  of  mystery,  which  had  both  its 
voluntary  and  involuntary  elements.  If  Mr.  Tilden  had 
desired  to  be  otherwise  than  mysterious  it  would  have 
required  much  more  self-control  and  ingenuity  than 
would  have  been  necessary  to  thicken  the  veil  to  in- 
penetrability. 

His  habit  was  to  weigh  both  sides  of  every  question,, 
and  therein  he  resembled,  though  in  other  particulars 
entirely  different,  the  late  Henry  J.  Kaymond,  the  founder 
of  the  New  York  Times ;  and  the  effect  was  to  some  ex- 
tent similar,  for  each  of  these  men  saw  both  sides  of 
every  question  so  fully  as  to  be  under  the  power  of  both 
sides,  which  sometimes  produced  an  equilibrium,  caus- 
ing hesitation  when  the  crisis  required  action. 

Mr.  Tilden  had  intellectual  qualities  of  the  very 
highest  order.  He  could  sit  down  before  a  mass  of  inco- 
herent statements,  and  figures  that  would  drive  most 
men  insane,  and  elucidate  them  by  the  most  painstak- 
ing investigation,  and  feel  a  pleasure  in  the  work.  In- 
deed, an  intimate  friend  of  his  assures  us  that  his  eye 
would  gleam  with  delight  when  a  task  was  set  before 
him  from  which  most  men  would  pay  large  sums  to  be 
relieved :  Hence,  his  abilities  were  of  a  kind  that  made 
him  a  most  dangerous  opponent. 

Some  persons  supposed  that  Mr.  Tilden  was  a  poor 


398  HIDDEN   TREASURES. 

speaker  because,  when  he  was  brought  before  the 
people  as  a  candidate  for  President  of  the  United  States, 
he  was  physically  unable  to  speak  with  much  force.  But 
twenty  years  ago,  for  clearness  of  statement,  and  for  an 
easy  and  straightforward  method  of  speech  he  had  few 
superiors.  His  language  was  excellent,  his  manner  that 
of  a  man  who  had  something  to  say  and  was  intent  upon 
saying  it.  He  was  at  no  time  a  tricky  orator,  nor  did  he 
aim  at  rousing  the  feelings,  but  in  the  clearest  possible 
manner  he  would  make  his  points  and  no  amount  of  preju- 
dice was  sufficient  to  resist  his  conclusions.  He  was  a 
great  reader,  and  reflected  on  all  that  he  read. 

No  more  extraordinary  episode  ever  occurred  than 
his  break  with  William  M.  Tweed,  and  his  devoting  him- 
self to  the  overthrow  of  that  gigantic  ring.  It  is  not 
our  purpose  to  treat  the  whole  subject ;  yet,  the  manner 
of  the  break  was  so  tragic  that  it  should  be  detailed. 
William  M.  Tweed  had  gone  on  buying  men  and  legisla- 
tures, and  enriching  himself  until  he  had  reached  the 
state  of  mind  in  which  he  said  to  the  public,  "What  are 
you  going  to  do  about  it  ?"  He  had  gone  further.  He 
had  applied  it  to  the  leading  men  of  the  Democratic 
party.  The  time  came  when  he  sat  in  his  gorgeously 
furnished  apartment  in  Albany,  as  Chairman  of  a  certain 
committee  of  the  Senate.  Samuel  J.  Tilden  appeared 
before  the  committee  to  represent  a  certain  interest.  On 
that  occasion  Mr.  Tweed,  who  was  either  intoxicated 
with  liquor,  or  intoxicated  with  pride  and  vanity,  grossly 
insulted  Mr.  Tilden,  spoke  to  him  in  the  most  disre- 
spectful manner,  and  closed  by  saying :  "You  are  an  old 
humbug;  you  always  were  a  humbug,  and  we  don't 
want  to  hear  anything  from  you  ! " 


FROM  OBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.         399 

Mr.  Tilden  turned  pale,  and  then  red,  and  finally 
livid.  A  spectator,  a  man  second  to  none  in  New  York 
State  for  position,  informed  the  writer  that  as  he  gazed 
upon  Mr.  Tilden  he  was  terrified.  Not  a  word  did  he 
utter;  he  folded  up  his  books  and  papers  and  departed. 
As  he  went  the  spectator  said  to  himself,  "This  man 
means  murder;  there  will  ne^^er  be  any  accommodation 
of  this  difficulty.'^  Back  to  the  City  of  New  York  went 
Mr.  Tilden.  He  sat  down  with  the  patience  and  with 
the  keen  scent  of  a  sleuth-hound,  and  unravelled  all  the 
mystery  of  the  iniquity  which  had  cursed  the  City  of^ 
New  York,  and  of  which  William  M.  Tweed  was  the 
master-spirit. 

Judge  Noah  Davis  said  to  an  acquaintance  that  *Mr. 
Tilden's  preparation  of  the  cases  against  Tweed  and  his 
confederates  was  one  of  the  most  remarkable  things  of 
which  he  had  ever  seen  or  heard.  He  said  that  Tilden 
would  take  the  mutilated  stubbs  of  check-books,  and 
construct  a  story  from  them.  He  had  restored  the  case 
of  the  city  against  the  purioiners  as  an  anatomist,  by  the 
means  of  two  or  three  bones,  would  draw  you  a  picture 
of  the  animal  which  had  inhabited  them  in  the  palseon- 
tological  age.'  It  will  be  remembered  that  Judge  Noah 
Davis  tried  the  cases  and  sentenced  Tweed. 

It  is  not  necessary  for  us  to  conjecture  whether  Mr. 
Tilden  would  have  appeared  as  the  reformer  if  he  had  not 
been  grossly  insulted  by  Tweed.  That  he  had  not  so  ap- 
peared until  the  occasion  referred  to,  and  that  immedi- 
ately afterward  he  began  the  investigation  and  move- 
ments which  ended  in  the  total  overthrow  of  the  ring  and 
its  leader,  are  beyond  question.  There  came  a  time 
when  Tweed,  trembling  in  his  very  soul,  sent  a  com- 
munication to  Mr.  Tilden  offering  anything  if  he  would 


400  HIDDEN  TREASURES. 

relax,  but  no  bronze  statue  was  ever  more  silent  and 
immovable  than  Samuel  J.  Tilden  at  that  time.  It  is 
remarkable  that  a  man  so  silent  and  mysterious,  not  to 
say  repellent,  in  his  intercourse  with  his  fellow-men 
could  exert  such  a  mighty  influence  as  he  unquestion- 
ably did.  He  did  it  by  controlling  master-minds,  and  by 
an  apprehension  rarely  or  never  surpassed  of  the  details 
to  be  wrought  out  by  other  men. 

Mr.  Tilden  was  capable  of  covering  his  face  with  a 
mask,  which  none  could  penetrate.  The  following  scene 
occurred  upon  a  train  on  the  Hudson  River  road.  Mr. 
Tilden  was  engaged  in  a  most  animated  conversation 
with  a  leading  member  of  the  Republican  party  with, 
whom  he  entertained  personal  confidential  relations. 
The  conversation  was  one  that  brought  all  Mr.  Tilden's 
learning  and  logical  forces  into  play.  It  was  semi-liter- 
ary, and  not  more  political  than  was  sufficient  to  give 
piquancy  to  the  interview.  A  committee  of  the  lower 
class  of  ward  politicians  approaching,  Mr.  Tilden  turned 
to  receive  him,  and  in  the  most  expressionless  manner 
held  out  his  hand.  His  eye  lost  every  particle  of  lustre 
and  seemed  to  sink  back  and  down.  The  chairman  of 
the  committee  stated  the  point  he  had  in  view.  Mr. 
Tilden  asked  him  to  restate  it  once  or  twice  ;  made  curi- 
ous and  inconsequential  remarks,  appeared  like  a  man 
just  going  to  sleep,  and  finally  said  :  *'I  will  see  you  on 
the  subject  on  a  future  occasion."  The  committee  with- 
drew. In  one  moment  he  resumed  the  conversation  with 
the  brilliancy  and  vivacity  of  a  boy.  Subsequently  the 
chairman  of  the  committee  said  to  the  leading  Republi- 
can, whom  he  also  knew :  "  Did  you  ever  see  the  old 
man  so  nearly  gone  as  he  was  to-day?  Does  he  often  get 
so?  Had  he  been  taking  a  drop  too  much"  ? 
25 


FROM  OBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.         401 

He  was  at  no  time  in  his  career  embarrassed  in  his 
intellectual  operations  by  his  emotional  nature ;  he  was 
a  man  of  immense  brain-power,  and  his  intellect  was 
trained  up  to  the  last  possibility;  every  faculty  was 
under  his  control ;  until  his  health  failed  he  knew  no 
such  other  source  of  joy  as  work. 

Craft  had  a  very  important  place  in  his  composition, 
but  it  was  not  the  craft  of  the  fox ;  it  was  a  species  of 
craft  which  at  its  worst  was  above  mere  pettifogging, 
and  at  its  best  was  unquestionably  a  high  type  of  diplo- 
macy. Those  mistake  who  considered  him  only  as  a 
cunning  man.  A  person  opposed  to  him  in  politics,  but 
who  made  a  study  of  his  career,  observed  that  in  power 
of  intellect  he  had  no  superior  at  the  bar  of  New  York, 
nor  among  the  statesmen  of  the  whole  country.  The 
supreme  crisis  of  his  life  was  when  he  believed  himself 
elected  President  of  the  United  States.  The  political 
aspect  we  will  not  revive,  except  to  say  that  Mr.  Tilden 
consented  to  the  peculiar  method  of  determining  the 
case.  The  departure  of  David  Davis  from  the  supreme 
bench  in  all  human  probability  determined  the  result. 

It  is  known  that  Abram  S.  Hewitt,  David  Dudley 
Field,  and  eminent  Democratic  leaders,  Hewitt  being 
chairman  of  the  National  Democratic  committee  at  the 
'  time,  did  all  in  their  power  to  induce  Mr.  Tilden  to  issue 
a  letter  to  the  American  people  saying  that  he  believed 
himself  to  be  the  President  elect,  and  that  on  the  fourth 
day  of  March  1877,  he  would  come  to  Washington  to  be 
inaugurated.  Had  that  been  done  God  alone  can  tell 
what  would  have  been  the  result.  In  all  probability  a 
coup  (Vetat  on  one  side  or  the  other,  followed  by  civil  war 
or  practical  change  in  the  character  of  the  relations  of 
the  people  to  the  Federal  Government.   At  that  moment} 


402  HIDDEN    TREASURES. 

Mr.  Tilden's  habit  of  balancing  caused  him  to  pursue  the 
course  that  he  did.  It  is  reported  that  Mr.  Tilden's  letter 
explaining  to  Mr.  Hewitt  the  reason  why  he  would  not 
do  so  is  still  in  existence.  Of  this  we  know  nothing ; 
but  that  he  had  reasons  and  assigned  them  is  certain. 
Why  he  consented  to  the  method  of  arbitration  is  one 
of  the  mysteries  of  his  career.  Taking  all  the  possi- 
bilities into  account,  the  fact  that  the  issue  passed  with- 
out civil  war  is  an  occasion  of  devout  thankfulness  to 
Almighty  God.  But  the  method  of  determing  the  ques- 
tion is  one  which  the  good  sense  of  the  American  people 
will  never  repeat. 

Mr.  Tilden  must  have  had  considerable  humor  in  his 
composition.  Some  years  ago  a  Methodist  preacher  came 
to  the  city  of  New  York  to  raise  money  for  a  certain  church 
in  Pennsylvania  which  had  been  grievously  embarrassed. 
He  stayed  at  the  house  of  one  of  the  ministers  in  Brook- 
lyn. One  evening  he  said  to  his  host :  "  I  am  going  to 
call  on  Samuel  J.  Tilden  and  see  if  I  can't  get  something 
out  of  him  for  our  church.  He  has  a  'barrel/  and  I  un- 
derstand it  is  pretty  full."  The  next  morning  he  went, 
and  on  returning  said  to  his  host :  "Well,  I  called  on  Mr. 

Tilden,  and  I  said:"     "Mr.  Tilden,  I  am  from ,  such 

a  place,    in   Pennsylvania.     My  name  is .    I  am 

pastor  of  a  church  there.  We  have  met  with  great  mis- 
fortunes, and  are  likely  to  lose  our  church.  There  are 
more  than  sixty  members  of  my  church  that  voted  for 
you  for  President,  and  they  are  ready  to  vote  for  you 
again,  and  they  wanted  me  to  call  on  you  and  tell  you  of 
their  misfortune,  and  ask  you  to  give  them  a  little  help." 
"Well,  what  did  Mr.  Tilden  say?"  "He  looked  up 
and  said  he  was  busy,  but  told  me  to  come  the  next 
morning  at  nine  o'clock."    He  went,  and  on  his  return 


FROM  OBSCUEITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.         403 

reported,  when  the  question :  "  What  did  Mr.  Tilden  say''  ? 

was  asked.    "  He  said  to  me,  '  Your  name  is ?  You 

a-re  from ,  in  Pennsylvania  ?     You  said  that  you  had 

more  than  sixty  members  who  voted  for  me  for  Presi- 
dent, and  who  are  ready  to  do  it  again''  ?  "Yes."  "And 
they  wanted  you  to  tell  me  of  their  misfortune  "  ?  "Yes." 
Then  pulling  out  of  his  pocket-book  he  counted  what 
money  he  had,  which  amounted  to  $15,  and  handed  me 
$14,  and  said:  "You  tell  them  that  Samuel  J.  Tilden 
gave  you  all  the  money  he  had  except  one  dollar, 
WHICH  HE  KEPT  FOR  HIMSELF."  In  all  probability  he  was 
satirizing  an  appeal  under  those  circumstances. 

For  his  service  in  breaking  up  the  Tweed  ring,  and 
for  his  career  as  Governor  of  the  State  of  New  York, 
apart  from  purely  party  aspects,  he  is  entitled  to  the 
thanks  of  the  people.  His  own  party  will  say  to  the 
end  of  time  that  he  was  elected  president  of  the  United 
States,  and  defrauded  out  of  the  office.  But  neither 
they  nor  anyone  else  can  say,  after  the  plan  was  agreed 
upon  and  adopted  for  determining  the  result,  that  the 
person  who  did  occupy  the  chair  did  not  have  a  legal 
right  there,  and  was  not  president  after  the  acceptance 
by  the  House  of  Representatives  of  the  conclusion. 

Mr.  Tilden  will  never  be  considered  inferior  in  in' 
tellect  and  learning  to  the  many  great  men  of  whom 
New  York  can  proudly  boast.  He  will  ever  be  ranked 
with  Daniel  Tompkins,  George  Clinton,  William  L. 
Marcy,  Silas  Wright,  William  H.  Seward,  John  A.  Dix 
and  many  others,  and  it  is  not  strange  that  it  was  with 
a  feeling  of  deep  and  genuine  regret  that  on  the  4th  of 
August,  1886,  the  people  were  told  of  his  sudden  death 
at  *Greystone.' 


404  HIDDEN    TREASURES. 


Henry  Ward  Beecher.. 


A  STURDY  tree,  standing  alone  in  a  vast  field,  sug- 
gesting strength,  growth  and  independence,  and 
regarded  both  as  a  landmark  and  a  shelter;  withstand- 
ing alike  the  heats  of  summer  and  wrestling  with  and 
throwing  off  the  blasts  of  winter;  drawing  from  Nature 
her  myriad  stores  of  nutrition  and  giving  back  to  Nature 
a  wealth  of  power  and  grace  in  return;  seemed  Henry 
Ward  Beecher,  in  his  youth  of  old  age,  to  the  observa- 
tion of  men.  Original  orator,  advocate,  iDoet,  humorist, 
agitator,  rhetorician,  preacher,  moralist  and  statesman.. 
The  greatest  preacher  of  modern  times,  possibly  of  all 
times,  the  man  was  one  of  the  wonders  of  America;  one 
of  the  marvels  of  the  world. 

Henry  Ward  Beecher's  career  has  been  phenominal 
for  the  activity  and  variety  of  its  achievements.  Coming- 
from  a  long  line  of  mentally  alert  and  physically  vigor- 
ous ancestors,  he  was  richly  endowed  with  the  qualities 
going  to  make  up  the  highest  type  of  human  nature. 
He  was  handicapped  only  in  being  the  son  of  a  man 
whose  fame  was  world-wide ;  a  preacher  of  such  in- 
tensity of  spirit  and  eloquence  of  expression  that  he 
stood  at  the  head  of,  if  not  above,  all  of  his  contempo- 
raries. Yet,  while  Dr.  Lyman  Beecher  will  always  hold 
an  honored  place  in  American  history  and  biography, 
who  can  deny  that  his  fame  has  been  far  outshone  by 
that  of  his  brilliant  son  ?  It  may  be  truly  said,  there- 
fore, that  Henry  Ward  Beecher  won  a  double  triumph. 
He  emerged  from  the  comparative  obscurity  in  whicli 


iTEOM   OBSCURITY   TO   GREAT   HONOR.  405 

he  dwelt,  behind  the  shadow  of  his  father's  greatness, 
and  he  lived  to  see  his  own  name  emblazoned  more 
brightly  and  engraved  more  indellibly  upon  the  records 
of  time  than  that  of  his  noble  father. 

He  was  born  at  Litchfield,  Connecticut,  June  24th,  1813. 
His  father  was  a  busy  minister,  and  the  mother  divided 
her  time  among  several  children,  so  that  no  especial  at- 
tention was  paid  to  Henry  Ward,  nor  was  he  considered 
more  promising  than  some  of  the  others.  He  was  not, 
by  any  means,  fond  of  books  in  early  life.  He  gives  the 
following  sketch  of  himself  in  one  of  his  personal  writ- 
ings: *A  hazy  image  of  myself  comes  back  to  me — a 
lazy,  dreamy  boy,  with  his  head  on  the  desk,  half-lulled 
asleep  by  the  buzzing  of  a  great  blue-bottle  fly,  and  the 
lowing  of  the  cows,  and  the  tinkling  of  their  bells, 
brought  into  the  open  door,  across  the  fields  and 
meadows.'  Through  the  advice  of  his  father,  he  attended 
Mount  Pleasant  Academy.  Afterwards  he  attended  Am- 
herst College  where  he  graduated  in  1834.  During  his 
last  two  years  of  school,  Beecher  followed  the  example 
of  many  another  young  man  who  has  since  attained 
eminence  in  his  chosen  profession,  and  taught  in  district 
schools.  With  the  money  thus  obtained  he  laid  the 
foundation  upon  which  he  built  that  splendid  super- 
tructure  which  is  recalled  at  the  sound  of  his  name. 

Dr.  Lyman  Beecher  meanwhile  had  accepted  a  pro- 
fessorship at  Lane  Seminary,  Cincinnati,  and  having 
decided  to  follow  the  ministry,  the  son  went  West  this 
same  year  and  began  the  study  of  theology  under  his 
father.  He  finished  his  course  three  years  later,  married, 
and  accepted  the  first  charge  offered  him;  a  small  Pres- 
byterian Church  in  Lawrenceburg,  a  little  town  on  the 


406  HIDDEN    TREASURES. 

Ohio  river,  near  Cincinnati.    Of  this  dismal  beginning  of 
his  illustrious  career  he  said : 

^'How  poor  we  were !  There  were  only  about  twenty 
persons  in  the  flock.  I  was  janitor  as  well  as  pastor  of 
the  little  white- washed  church.  I  bought  some  lamps 
and  I  filled  them  and  lighted  them.  I  swept  the  church 
and  dusted  the  benches,  and  kindled  the  fire,  and  I 
didn't  ring  the  bell,  because  there  wasn't  any;  did  every- 
thing in  fact  but  come  to  hear  myself  preach,  that  they 
had  to  do.  It  doesn't  occur  to  me  now  that  Lawrence- 
burg  was  remarkable  for  anything  but  a  superabundance 
of  distilleries.  I  used  to  marvel  how  so  many  large  dis- 
tilleries could  be  put  in  so  small  a  town.  But  they  were 
flourishing  right  in  the  face  of  the  Gospel,  that  my  little 
flock  and  I  were  preaching  in  the  shadows  of  the 
chimneys.  My  thoughts  often  travel  back  to  my  quaint 
little  church  and  the  big  distilleries  at  Lawrenceburg. 
Well,  my  next  move  was  to  Indianapolis.  There  I  had 
a  more  considerable  congregation,  though  I  was  still  far 
from  rich  in  the  world's  goods.  I  believe  I  was  very 
happy  during  my  eight  years  out  there.  I  liked  the 
people.  There  was  a  hearty  frankness,  a  simplicity  in 
their  mode  of  life,  an  unselfish  intimacy  in  their  social 
relations  that  attracted  me.  They  were  new  people — 
unharrowed  and  uncultured  like  the  land  they  lived  on — 
but  they  were  earnest  and  honest  and  strong.  But  the 
ague  shook  us  out  of  the  State.  My  wife's  health  gave 
out  and  we  were  forced  to  come  East." 

From  this  it  would  seem  that  chills  and  fever  were 
the  means  used  by  Providence  for  bringing  Henry  Ward 
Beecher  and  Plymouth  Church  together.  The  church 
came  into  existence  on  the  8th  of  May,  1847,  when  six 
gentlemen  met  in  Brooklyn  at  the  house  of  one  of  their 


FROM  OBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.         407 

number,  Mr.  Henry  C.  Bowen,  the  present  proprietor  of 
the  Independent  J  and  formed  themselves  into  a  company 
of  trustees  of  a  new  Congregational  Church,  the  services 
of  which  they  decided  to  begin  holding  at  once  in  an 
edifice  on  Cranberry  street,  purchased  from  the  Presby- 
terians. The  following  week  Mr.  Beecher  happened  to 
speak  in  New  York,  at  the  anniversary  of  the  Home 
Missionary  Society.  He  had  already  attracted  some 
attention  by  his  anti-slavery  utterances,  and  the  fearless 
manner  in  which  he  had  preached  against  certain  popular 
vices. 

The  founders  of  the  new  congregation  invited  him  to 
deliver  the  opening  sermon  on  the  16th.  A  great  audi- 
ence was  present,  and  shortly  afterwards  the  young 
preacher  was  asked  to  become  the  first  pastor  of  the 
organization.  He  accepted,  and  on  the  10th  of  the  fol- 
lowing October  he  entered  upon  the  term  of  service 
which  lasted  until  the  day  of  his  death.  And  what  a 
pastorate  that  was  !  The  congregation  readily  grew  in 
numbers  and  influence  until  Plymouth  Church  and  Henrj 
Ward  Beecher  became  household  words  all  over  the  land, 
and  a  trip  to  Brooklyn  to  hear  the  great  preacher  grew 
to  be  an  almost  indispensable  part  of  a  stranger's  visit 
to  New  York. 

At  the  opening  of  the  civil  war,  in  1861,  Mr.  Beecher 
undertook  the  editorship  of  the  Independent  which,  like 
the  church  under  his  administration,  speedily  became  a 
power  in  the  country.  In  addition  to  all  this  work  he 
was  continually  delivering  speeches;  for  from  the  firing 
of  the  first  gun  on  Fort  Sumpter  on  April  12th,  Plymouth's 
pastor  was  all  alive  to  the  needs  of  the  nation.  With 
voice  and  pen  he  pointed  out  the  path  of  duty  in  that 
dark  and  trying  hour,  and  his  own  church  promptly  re- 


408  HIDDEN   TEEASURES. 

sponded  to  the  call  by  organizing  and  equipping  the 
First  Long  Island  regiment.  But  the  strain  of  this  three- 
fold service — preaching,  speaking  and  editing,  was  too 
much  for  his  strength,  powerful  and  well-grounded,  as 
he  was,  physically.  His  voice  gave  out  at  last,  and  doc- 
tor's imperatively  demanded  rest.  This  brought  about 
the  trip  to  Europe  which  was  destined  to  be  remembered 
as  the  most  remarkable  epoch  in  the  remarkable  career 
of  this  man. 

Decidedly  the  most  memorable  oratorical  success 
ever  achieved  by  an  American  citizen  abroad,  in  behalf 
of  the  name  and  honor  of  his  country,  was  that  by  the 
Rev.  Henry  Ward  Beecher,  which  he  achieved  during 
this  trip.  Undertaking  the  journey  for  recreation  and 
recuperation  he  was  bitterly  opposed  by  his  friends  in 
his  decision,  but  he  saw  there  was  work  to  be  done,  and 
felt  that  he  must  do  it.  Beginning  at  Manchester,  Octo- 
ber 9th,  Mr.  Beecher  delivered  five  great  speeches  in  the 
great  cities  of  the  kingdom,  Manchester,  Glasgow,  Edin- 
burgh, Liverpool  and  London,  each  speech  being  devoted 
to  some  special  train  of  thought  and  argument  bearing 
upon  the  issues  involved  in  the  momentous  contest ;  and 
the  whole  series  taken  together  did  more  for  the  Union 
cause  in  Great  Britain  than  all  that  had  before  been  said 
or  written.  Possessing  the  faculty  beyond  any  other 
American  orator  of  combining  close,  rapid,  powerful, 
j)ractical  reasoning  with  intense  passion — his  mind  al- 
ways aglow  vnth  his  subject — the  effect  of  Mr.  Beecher's 
speaking  was  to  kindle  sympathy,  even  if  it  did  not  flash 
conviction.  It  is  this  quality,  according  to  the  opinion 
of  those  best  acquainted  with  Mr.  Beecher's  oratory, 
which  combined  with  his  marvelous  power  of  illustra- 
tion, marvelous  alike  for  its  intense  vividness  and  un- 


FEOM  OBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.         409 

tjrring  pertinency,  and  his  great  flexibility  whereby  he 
seemed  to  adapt  himself  completely  to  the  exigency  of 
the  instant  gave  him  rare  command  over  a  popular 
assemblage. 

Mayor  Carrington,  of  Richmond,  tells  the  following : 
"He  went  to  Richmond  in  1881,  his  flrst  appearance  there 
after  the  war,  and  he  was  somewhat  doubtful  as  to  the 
reception  he  would  get.  He  walked  onto  the  stage  where 
he  was  to  lecture,  before  a  crowded  house,  and  was  not 
greeted  with  the  slightest  welcoming  applause.  Imme- 
diately in  front  of  the  stage  facing  Mr.  Beecher  were 
several  leading  ex-generals  of  the  Confederate  army, 
among  them  General  Fitz-Hugh  Lee.  Mr.  Beecher  sur- 
veyed the  cold  and  critical  audience  for  a  moment,  and 
then  stepping  directly  in  front  of  General  Lee,  he  said, 
*I  have  seen  pictures  of  General  Fitz-Hugh  Lee,  and 
judge  you  are  the  man ;  am  I  right  V  General  Lee  was 
taken  aback  by  this  direct  address,  and  nodded  stiffly, 
while  the  audience  bent  forward  breathless  with  curios- 
ity as  to  what  was  going  to  follow.  'Then,'  said  Beecher, 
his  face  ligthing  up,  '  I  want  to  offer  you  this  right  hand 
which,  in  its  own  way,  fought  against  you  and  yours 
twenty-five  years  ago,  but  which  I  would  now  willingly 
sacrifice  to  make  the  Sunny  South  prosperous  and 
happy.  Will  you  take  it.  General  ? "  There  was  a 
moment's  hesitation,  a  moment  of  death-like  stillness  in 
the  hall,  and  then  General  Lee  was  on  his  feet,  his  hand 
was  extended  across  the  footlights,  and  was  quickly  met 
by  the  preacher's  warm  grasp.  At  first  there  was  a  mur- 
mur, half  surprise,  half-doubtfulness,  by  the  audience. 
Then  there  was  a  hesitating  clapping  of  hands,  and 
before  Mr.  Beecher  had  loosed  the  hand  of  Robert  E.  Lee's 
nephew, — now  Governor  of  Virginia — there  were  cheers 


410  HIDDEN  TREASURES. 

such  as  were  ne\er  before  heard  in  that  hall,  though 
it  had  been  the  scene  of  many  a  war  and  political  meet- 
ing. When  the  noise  subsided,  Mr.  Beecher  continued : 
*When  I  go  back  home  I  shall  proudly  tell  that  I  have 
grasped  the  hand  of  the  nephew  of  the  great  Southern 
Chieftain ;  I  shall  tell  my  people  that  I  went  to  the  Con- 
federate capitol  with  a  heart  full  of  love  for  the  people 
whom  my  principles  once  obliged  me  to  oppose,  and  that 
1  was  met  half  way  by  the  brave  Southerners  who  can 
forgive,  as  well  as  they  can  fight.'  That  night  Beecher 
entered  his  carriage  and  drove  to  his  hotel  amid  shouts, 
such  as  had  never  greeted  a  Northern  man  since  the  war.'' 

The  famous  Beecher-Tilton  trial  began  in  a  series  of 
whispers.  With  such  an  immense  congregation,  with 
everybody  in  Brooklyn  familiar  with  his  affairs,  and  with 
the  whole  community  seemingly  resolved  into  an  im- 
mense gossipping  committee,  it  was  no  wonder  that 
rumors  and  report  went  flying  about  until  at  last,  in  the 
summer  of  1874,  Plymouth  Church  appointed  a  commit- 
tee to  investigate  the  charges  preferred  by  Theodore 
Tilton  against  Mr.  Beecher. 

Mr.  Tilton  read  a  sworn  statement  detailing  his 
charges  and  specifying  the  actions  of  Mrs.  Tilton  and 
Mr.  Beecher  during  the  previous  two  years.  '  This  was 
on  July  28th,  and  on  the  next  day  Mr.  Beecher  made  his 
speech  declaring  the  innocence  of  Mrs.  Tilton;  and  she, 
too,  testified  in  her  own  defense.  Mr.  Beecher  made  an 
elaborate  statement  before  his  congregation,  August  14th, 
denying  all  immorality.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Tilton  were  sub- 
jected to  a  most  thorough  examination  and  cross-exami- 
nation, and  then  Mr.  Francis  D.  Moulton,  the  famous 
mutual  friend,  came  into  the  matter  with  his  story  of  a 
most  remarkable  series  of  confessions  and  letters.    The 


FROM   OBSCUEITY   TO   GkEEAT   HONQE.  411 

committee  reported  its  findings  at  the  weekly  prayer- 
meeting,  August  28th.  Mr.  Beecher  was  acquitted,  and 
Mr.  Moulton  was  most  vigorously  denounced,  and  when 
he  left  the  meeting  it  was  under  police  protection, 
because  of  the  fury  of  the  friends  of  the  pastor.  Before 
this  Mr.  Tilton  had  concluded  to  go  to  the  courts,  and 
on  August  19th  opened  a  suit  for  $100,000  against  Mr. 
Beecher.  It  was  not  until  October  17th  that  Judge  Neil^ 
son  granted  an  order  for  a  bill  of  particulars  against  the 
plaintiff,  and  William  M.  Evarts,  for  Mr.  Beecher,  and 
Roger  A.  Pryor  for  Mr.  Tilton,  carried  the  case  up  to  the 
Court  of  Appeals,  where  the  decision  of  the  general  term 
was  reversed,  and  on  December  7th,  the  new  motion  for 
a  bill  was  granted. 

It  was  on  January  4th,  1875,  that  the  case  was  taken, 
up  in  the  City  Court  of  Brooklyn.  For  Mr.  Tilton  ap- 
peared General  Pryor,  ex- Judge  Fullerton, '  William  A. 
Beach  and  S.  D.  Morris;  while  on  the  other  side  were 
William  M.  Evarts,  General  Benjamin  F.  Tracy  and 
Thomas  G.  Shearman.  The  first  witness  was  Editor 
Maverick,  who  testified  on  the  13th  of  January  to  the 
Tilton  marriage.  Mr.  Tilton  took  the  stand  on  January 
29th,  and  Mr.  Evarts  objected  to  his  being  sworn,  and 
took  several  days  to  state  his  objections.  From  Febru- 
ary 2nd  to  February  17th,  Mr.  Tilton  was  on  the  stand, 
and  the  case  for  the  defense  opened  on  February  25th, 
and  the  first  witness  took  the  stand  March  2nd.  Mr. 
Beecher  took  the  stand  April  1st,  and  affirmed  his  testi- 
mony. He  kept  the  stand  until  April  21st,  and  on  May 
13th  the  testimony  on  both  sides  closed  after  the  ex- 
amination of  one  hundred  and  eleven  witnesses,  and  the 
consumption  of  four  and  one-half  months  of  time.  Mr. 
Evarts  took  eight  days  for  his  summing  up,  and  other 


412  HIDDEN    TREASURES. 

counsel  for  the  defense  six  more.  Mr.  Beach  talked  for 
nine  days,  and  Judge  Neilson,  on  June  24th,  charged  the 
jury,  which,  after  a  consultation  of  eight  days,  reported 
on  July  2nd,  that  they  were  unable  to  agree.  All  through 
the  trial  Mrs.  Beecher  sat  beside  her  husband  in  court. 
The  court  was  packed  day  after  day,  and  in  the  daily  papers 
thousands  of  columns  were  consumed  in  reporting  every 
word  uttered.    It  was  never  tried  again. 

The  enormous  expense  of  the  defense  was  met  by  a 
generous  subscription.  Mr.  Beecher's  letters  were  re- 
markable productions  for  any  man  other  than  Beechei' 
to  pen,  and  the  explanation  of  them  so  that  the  jury- 
men, and  men  generally,  could  comprehend  them  was 
the  task  of  his  counsel.  Mr.  Tilton  is  now  in  Europe, 
and  Mrs.  Tilton  is  in  this  country.  Mr.  Beecher  passed 
through  the  ordeal  of  his  life  in  safety,  and  since  the 
trial  he  has  been  watched  as  no  man  ever  has  been 
before  or  since. 

He  was  unquestionably  one  of  the  most  able,  if  not 
the  ablest,  preacher  the  world  ever  knew,  and  it  is  not 
strange  that  the  country  should  be  startled  at  the  an- 
nouncement of  his  sudden  death  on  march  7th,  1887,  at 
his  home  in  Brooklyn. 

Henry  Ward  Beecher  is  already  as  historical  a  char- 
actor  as  Patrick  Henry;  with  this  exception,  that  where- 
as there  are  multitudes  living  who  have  seen  and  heard 
Mr.  Beecher,  and  many  who  knew  him  personally;  there 
are  few,  if  any,  who  can  remember  Patrick  Henry.  Mr. 
Beecher  was  the  most  versatile  and  ready  orator  this 
country  has  ever  produced, — a  kind  of  Gladstone  in  the 
pulpit.  He  was  a  master  of  every  style;  could  be  as  de- 
liberate and  imposing  as  Webster;  as  chaste  and  self- 
contained  as  Phillips;  as  witty  and  irregular  as  Thomas 


FROM  OBSCURITY  TO  GREAT  HONOR.         413 

Corwin ;  as  grandiloquent  as  Charles  Sumner ;  as 
dramatic  as  father  Taylor,  and  as  melo-dramatic  as 
Gough. 

To  attempt  to  analyze  the  sources  of  his  power  is  like 
exhibiting  the  human  features  separately,  in  the  hope 
of  giving  the  effect  of  a  composite  whole;  for  whether 
he  moved  his  finger,  elevated  his  brow,  smiled,  frowned, 
whispered  or  vociferated,  each  act  or  expression  derived 
its  power  from  the  fact  that  it  was  the  act  and  expres- 
sion of  Henry  Ward  Beecher.  His  oratory  was  marked 
by  the  entire  absence  of  trammels,  of  rhetoric  gesture 
or  even  grammar.  Not  that  his  style  was  not  ordinarily 
grammatical  and  rhetorical,  but  that  he  would  never 
allow  any  rules  to  impede  the  expression  of  his  thought 
and  especially  of  his  feelings,  nor  was  he  restrained  by 
theological  forms,  and  always  appeared  independent  and 
courageous.  He  believed  in  the  absolute  necessity  of 
conversion  and  a  thorough  change  of  heart;  he  taught 
the  beauty  of  living  a  religious  life,  for  the  nobleness  of 
the  deeds  rather  than  for  the  purpose  of  escaping  a 
future  punishment,  and  his  sayings  in  this  connection 
were  often  misconstrued. 

He  stimulated  the  intellect  by  wit ;  he  united  the 
heart  and  mind  by  humor ;  he  melted  the  heart  by  un- 
mixed pathos.  He  was  characterized  by  the  strange 
power  of  creating  an  expectation  with  every  sentence 
he  uttered,  and  though  he  might  on  some  occasions,  when 
not  at  his  best,  close  without  meeting  the  expectations 
aroused,  no  dissatisfaction  was  expressed  or  apparently 
felt  by  his  hearers.  In  personal  appearance  he  was  re- 
markable, chiefly  for  the  great  transformation  of  his 
countenance  under  the  play  of  emotion. 

On  the  platform  of  Plymouth  Church  he  was  as  a 


414  HIDDEN   TREASURES. 

king  upon  his  throne,  or  the  commander  of  a  war-ship 
in  victorious  action.  His  manners  in  private  life  were 
most  ingratiating,  His  writings  can  impart  to  coming 
generations  no  adequate  conception  of  his  power 
as  an  orator.  His  career  in  England  during  those 
five  great  speeches  were  worth  50,000  soldiers  to  the 
National  government,  and  probably  had  much  to  do  with 
the  prevention  of  the  recognition  of  the  Southern  Con- 
federacy by  European  nations.  It  was  a  triumph  of 
oratory ;  he  literally  compelled  a  vast  multitude,  who 
were  thoroughly  in  opposition  to  him,  to  take  a  new  view 
of  the  subject. 

A  Metropolitan  in  the  pulpit,  a  magician  on  the  plat- 
form, a  center  of  life  and  good  cheer  in  the  home,  a  prince 
in  society  possessed  of  exhaustive  vitality,  warmth  and 
energy,  he  suggested  to  any  one  who  gazed  upon  him 
the  apostrophe  of  Hamlet  to  the  ideal  man :  "  What  a 
piece  of  work  is  man !  How  noble  in  reason !  How 
infinite  in  faculties !  In  form  and  moving  how  express 
and  admirable !  In  action  how  like  an  angel !  In  appre- 
hension how  like  a  god !  The  beauty  of  the  world,  the 
paragon  of  animals  ! "  Such  a  piece  of  work  was  Henry 
Ward  Beecher.  He  had  no  predecessor,  and  can  have  no 
successor  till  a  similar  ancestry  and  life ;  the  one  coeval 
with  birth,  and  the  other  running  parallel  with  the  lusty 
youth  of  such  a  nation,  and  a  similar  life  and  death 
struggle,  both  in  a  conflict  of  moral  principles  fought 
out  under  a  Democratic  form  of  Government,  shall  com- 
bine to  evolve  a  similar  career.  The  course  of  human 
history  does  not  furnish  a  probability  of  another  coin- 
cidence of  elements  so  extraordinary. 


PERCEPTION. 


Engraved    Expressly   for   "  Hidden   Treasures." 


IN  this  advanced  age  we  know  the  power  of  steam,  and 
what  a  great  factor  it  is  as  a  help  in  carrying  on  the 
daily  work  of  life.  Yet,  it  is  only  during  the  last 
century  that  men  have  discovered  to  how  many  purposes 
it  can  be  applied. 

James  Watt,  the  great  utilizer  of  steam,  was  born  in 
Greenock,  Scotland,  January  19th,  1736.  His  father  was 
a  carpenter  and  general  merchant  in  Greenock,  and  seems 
to  have  been  highly  respected,  for  he  was  long  a  mem- 
ber of  the  council,  and  for  a  time  magistrate.  James 
was  a  sickly  child,  unable  to  attend  school  with  regu- 
larity, hence  was  left  to  follow  his  own  inclinations ; 
becoming  his  own  instructor,  to  a  great  extent.  The 
boy  was  early  furnished  with  tools  by  his  father,  and 
415 


4:16  HIDDEN   TREASURES. 

with  them  found  amusement  and  instruction.  He  early 
manifested  a  taste  for  mathematics  and  mechanics, 
studied  botany,  chemistry,  mineralogy,  natural  philoso- 
phy, and  at  fourteen  constructed  an  electrical  machine. 

At  the  age  of  eighteen  he  was  sent  to  Glasgow  to  learn 
to  make  mathematical  instruments,  but  for  some  reason 
he  went  to  London  the  same  year,  engaging  with  one 
Morgan,  working  at  the  same  trade.  Ill-health,  however, 
compelled  his  return  home  about  a  year  later.  He  had 
made  great  use  of  his  time  while  in  London,  and  after 
his  health  had  improved  somewhat  he  again  visited 
Glasgow  with  the  desire  of  establishing  himself  there, 
but  met  with  opposition  from  some  who  considered  him 
an  intruder  upon  their  privileges.  The  Principal  of  the 
college,  appreciating  his  fine  tact  and  ingenuity,  offered 
him  protection  and  gave  him  an  apartment  for  carrying 
on  his  business  within  their  precinct,  with  the  title  of 
"Mathematical  Instrument  Maker  to  the  University/' 
But  this  location  was  unfavorable  for  his  business.  He 
was  scarcely  able  to  make  a  living,  however,  the  five  or 
six  years  he  passed  in  those  quarters  were  well  employed 
in  investigations,  and  during  the  time  he  unmistakably 
manifested  rare  abilty. 

As  soon  as  possible  he  secured  a  better  situation  in 
town,  and  after  this  change  did  much  better,  still  it  is 
said :  "  He  had  to  eke  out  his  living  by  repairing  fiddles, 
which  he  was  able  to  do,  though  he  had  no  ear  for  music,^' 
also,  in  doing  any  mechanical  piece  of  work  that  came 
in  his  way ;  no  work  requiring  ingenuity  or  the  applica- 
tion of  scientific  knowledge  seems  to  have  baffled  him. 
But  he  kept  studying,  devoting  his  evenings  and  spare 
moments  to  the  mastery  of  German,  Italian,  mastered 
some  of  the  sciences,  learned  to  sketch,  was  a  superior 
26 


GREAT  INVENTORS  AND  THEIR  INVENTIONS.  417 

model-maker ;  and,  if  his  profession  had  been  defined  at 
the  time  he  first  turned  his  attention  to  steam,  having 
constructed  an  improved  organ,  he  would  have  been 
spoken  of  as  a  musical-instrument  maker. 

In  185S  he  began  his  experiments  with  steam  as  a 
propelling  power  for  land  carriages,  which  he  tempor- 
arily abandoned,  and  did  not  patent  a  road  engine  until 
1784.  In  1767  he  assumed  a  new  occupation,  for  in  that 
year  he  was  employed  to  make  the  surveys  and  prepare 
the  estimates  for  a  projected  canal  to  connect  the  Forth 
and  Clyde.  This  project  fell  through  for  the  time  being, 
as  it  failed  to  gain  the  sanction  of  Parliament,  but  Watt 
had  now  made  a  beginning  as  civil  engineer,  and  hence^ 
forth  he  obtained  a  good  deal  of  employment  in  this 
capacity.  He  superintended  the  surveys  and  engineer- 
ing works  on  the  Monkland  Collieries  Canal  to  Glasgow, 
deepening  the  Clyde,  improving  the  harbors  of  Ayr, 
Port,  Glasgow,  and  Greenock;  building  bridges  and  other 
public  works  his  final  survey  being  for  the  Caledonia 
Canal. 

During  this  period  he  had  invented  an  improved 
micrometer,  and  also  continued  his  experiments  witli^ 
steam  as  a  motive  power.  Perhaps  it  would  be  interest- 
ing to  some  of  our  readers  to  know  how  Watt  tested  the 
power  of  steam.  The  implements  with  which  he  per- 
formed his  experiments  were  of  the  cheapest  kind. 
Apothecaries'  vials,  a  glass  tube  or  two,  and  a  tea-kettle 
enabled  him  to  arrive  at  some  very  important  conclu- 
sions. By  attaching  a  glass  tube  to  the  nose  of  the  tea- 
kettle he  conducted  the  steam  into  a  glass  of  water,  and 
by  the  time  the  water  came  to  the  boiling  point,  he  found 
its  volume  had  increased  nearly  a  sixth  part ;  that  is,  one 
measure  of  water  in  the  form  of  steam  can  raise  about 


418  HIDDEN    TREASURES. 

six  measures  of  water  to  its  own  heat.  It  would  be  im- 
possible in  our  allotted  space  to  tell  fully  of  the  many 
experiments  James  Watt  made.  It  is  needless  to  say 
that  his  success  came  by  slow  and  discouraging  channels, 
so  slow,  indeed,  that  most  men  would  have  given  up  long 
before. 

His  reputation  was  assailed  by  jealous  rivals,  his 
originality  denied,  and  his  rights  to  various  patents 
v:ehemently  contested.  He  was  many  times  disappointed 
in  the  workings  of  his  own  machines,  and  was  obliged 
to  throw  away  pieces  of  machinery  from  which  he  had 
expected  much,  while  with  others  he  had  perfect  success. 
His  experiments  finally  resulted  in  his  invention  of 
the  condensing  engine.  Now,  he  struggled  for  years, 
through  poverty  and  every  imaginable  difficulty,  to 
make  a  practical  application  of  his  improvements,  doing 
work  as  a  surveyor  in  order  to  support  himself. 

In  1769  he  became  a  partner  of  Mathew  Boulton,  a 
large  hardware  dealer  and  manufacturer,  of  Birming- 
ham, England.  Previously  Mr.  Boulton  had  built  engines 
after  the  plans  of  Savery,  hence,  he  undoubtedly  dis- 
cerned the  great  improvement  over  all  engines  then  in 
use,  that  this  new  discovery  was  sure  to  prove.  He  was 
a  man  of  wealth,  and,  in  all  probability,  his  personal 
knowledge  of  such  matters  greatly  aided  his  faith.  No 
other  can  be  given,  for  he  was  obliged  to  advance  over 
$229,000  before  Watt  had  so  completely  perfected  his 
engine  that  its  operations  yielded  profit.  But  his  con- 
fidence was  not  misplaced.  The  immense  Birmingham 
manufactory,  which  employed  over  one  thousand  hands, 
was  ultimately  driven  to  its  utmost  capacity  to  supply 
the  constantly  increasing  demand  for  steam  enginges. 
It  was  first  applied  to  coinage  in  1783,  from  thirty  to 


GREAT  INVENTORS  AND  THEIR  INVENTIONS.  419 

forty  thousand  milled  coins  being  struck  off  in  an  hour 
as  a  test.  Boulton  &  Watt  sent  two  complete  mints  to 
St.  Petersburg,  and  for  many  years  executed  the  entire 
copper  coinage  of  England. 

Watt  was  the  first  to  conceive  the  idea  of  warming 
buildings  by  steam.  He  was  the  first  to  make  a  copy- 
ing-press; he  also  contrived  a  flexible  iron  pipe  with 
ball  and  socket  joints,  to  adapt  it  to  the  irregular  river- 
bed, for  carrying  water  across  the  Clyde.  At  the  time 
of  his  death  he  was  fellow  of  the  Royal  Societies  of 
London,  and  Edinburgh  correspondent  of  the  French 
Institute,  and  foreign  associate  of  the  Academy  of 
Sciences.  He  was  buried  beside  Boulton,  in  Hands  worth 
Church;  his  statue,  by  Chantery,  is  in  Westminister 
Abbey.     The  pedestal  bears  the  following  inscription : — 

*  *  Not  to  perpetuate  a  name 
Which  must  endure  while  the  peaceful  arts  flourish, 

But  to  show 

That  mankind  have  learned  to  honor  thoge 

Who  best  deserve  their  gratitude, 

The  King, 

His  Ministers,  and  many  of  the  Nobles 

And  Commoners  of  the  Realm, 

Raised  this  Monument  to 

Jamea  Watt, 

Who,  directing  the  force  of  an  original  Genius, 

Early  exercised  in  philosophic  research, 

To  tKe  improvement  of 

The  Steam  Engine, 

Enlarged. the  resources  of  his  Country, 

Increased  the  power  of  man,  and  rose  to  an  eminent  place 

Among  thfi  mo»t  illustrious  followers  of  Science 

And  the  real  benefactors  of  the  World. 

Born  at  Greenock,  MDCCXXXVI, 

Died  at  Heathfield,  in  Staffordshire,  MDCCCXIX." 


420  HIDDEN   TREASURES. 

The  properties  of  steam  had  been  known  to  a  certain 
extent  for  centuries.  In  the  seventeenth  century  atten- 
tion was  frequently  directed  by  ingenious  workers  to  the 
uses  of  steam  in  performing  simple  but  laborious  occu- 
pations, such  as  pumping  water  out  of  the  mines.  To 
other  purposes  steam  was  imperfectly  applied,  but  it 
remained  for  Watt  to  make  more  practical  and  efficient 
use  of  it. 

This,  indeed,  is  the  history  of  almost  every  useful  art. 
A  discovery,  which,  after  it  is  known,  seems  so  simple 
that  every  one  wonders  why  it  remained  hiddened  for  so 
many  years,  yet  proves  simple  enough  to  immortalize  the 
name  of  the  fortunate  inventor.  It  is  said  there  was 
hardly  a  physical  science  or  one  art  with  which  Watt 
was  not  intimately  acquainted.  His  philosophical  judg- 
ment kept  pace  with  his  ingenuity.  He  studied  modern 
languages,  and  was  acquainted  with  literature.  His 
memory  was  extremely  tenacious,  and  whatever  he  once 
learned  he  always  had  at  his  command ;  and  yet  this 
brave  earnest  worker  and  gifted  man  was  a  sufferer  from 
ill-health  all  his  life.  With  constitutional  debility,  in- 
creased by  anxiety  and  perplexity  during  the  long  process 
of  his  inventions,  and  the  subsequent  care  of  defending- 
them  in  court;  yet,  through  constant  temperance  and 
watchfulness  over  his  peculiar  difficulties,  his  life  was. 
preserved  to  the  great  age  of  eighty-three  years.  He 
had  in  his  character  the  utmost  abhorrece  for  all  parade 
and  presumption,  and,  indeed,  never  failed  to  put  all 
such  imposters  out  of  countenance  by  the  manly  plain- 
ness and  honest  intrepidity  of  his  language  and  manner. 
In  his  temper  and  disposition  he  was  not  only  kind  and 
affectionate,  but  generous  and  considerate  of  the  feelings 
of  all  around  him,  and  gave  the  most  liberal  assistance 


GREAT  INVENTORS  AND  THEIR  INVENTIONS.  421 

and  encouragement  to  all  young  persons  who  proved 
any  indication  of  talent,  or  applied  to  him  for  patronage 
or  advice.  He  was  twice  married,  and  left  his  two  sons, 
long  associated  with  him  in  his  business,  to  carry  out 
some  of  his  plans  and  discoveries  of  the  great  utility  and 
power  of  steam.  All  men  of  learning  and  science  were 
his  cordial  friends,  and  such  was  the  influence  of  his 
mild  character  and  perfect  firmness  and  liberality,  even 
to  pretenders  of  his  own  accomplishments,  that  he  lived 
to  disarm  even  envy  itself,  and  died  the  peaceful  death 
of  a  Christian  without,  it  is  thought,  a  single  enemy. 


George  Stephenson. 


A  SMALL  collection  of  houses  in  a  mining  district, 
called  Wylam,  about  nine  miles  west  of  Newcastle- 
on-Tyne,  we  find  to  be  the  birth-plac6  of  George  Stephen- 
son, born  June  9th,  1781. 

His  father  was  a  very  humble  workman,  who  filled  the 
position  of  fireman  of  the  pumping-engine  in  use  at  the 
colliery,  at  three  dollars  a  week.  With  a  wife  and  six 
children  to  support,  there  was  not  much  left  after  satis- 
fying the  cravings  of  hunger.  The  children,  soon  as 
opportunity  afforded,  were  set  at  work  to  help  support 
the  family.  We  find  young  George  beginning  life  pulling 
turnips  at  two  pence  a  day.  At  eight  years  old  he  tended 
Widow  Ainslie's  cows  at  five  cents  a  day.  Later,  he  re- 
ceived fifty  cents  a  week  when  caring  for  horses. 


422  HIDDEN  TREASURES, 

Of  course,  it  is  the  rule  to  find  something  in  the  boy 
indicative  of  the  man,  and  in  Stephenson's  case,  legend 
or  history  furnishes  the  material.  It  seems  that  while 
acting  as  herder,  in  company  with  other  boys,  it  was  his 
favorite  amusement  to  model  engines  out  of  clay.  After 
a  time  he  received  a  dollar  a  week  as  assistant  to  his 
father,  and  at  the  age  of  sixteen  he  was  appointed  to 
work  as  attendant  upon  the  pumping-engine,  at  men's 
wages, — three  dollars  per  week.  He  was  delighted,  and 
it  is  doubtful  if  he  was  ever  happier  over  subsequent 
triumphs  as  a  locomotive  builder,  than  when  he  was  ele- 
vated to  this  position.  He  was  employed  at  various 
collieries,  as  fireman,  and  afterwards  as  plugman,  and 
gradually  acquired  so  complete  a  knowledge  of  the  en- 
gine as  to  be  able  to  take  it  apart  and  make  ordinary 
repairs.  His  ingenuity  in  repairing  an  obstinate  defect 
in  a  steam  engine  gained  him  the  charge  of  the  engine. 

After  this  his  fondness  for  his  work  increased  until, 
with  study,  he  had  thoroughly  mastered  all  its  details. 
At  the  age  of  eighteen  he  could  not  even  read,  and  he 
began  to  long  for  some  education,  so  that  he  might  fit 
himself  for  a  higher  place  in  his  business.  He  accordingly 
commenced  his  studies  by  taking  lessons  in  reading,  of 
a  neighboring  school-master,  three  nights  in  a  week,  at 
a  small  tuition.  At  the  end  of  a  year  he  could  read  and 
spell  some,  and  could  write  his  own  name.  He  now  had 
a  great  thirst  for  mathematics,  which  he  studied  faith- 
fully the  second  year ;  at  the  close  of  which,  by  his  at- 
tentiveness,  he  could  cipher  with  tolerable  facility. 

During  odd  moments  he  gave  some  attention  to 
mending  shoes,  by  which  he  was  able  to  earn  a  few  extra 
pence.  Among  some  shoes  that  were  sent  him  to  repair 
was  a  pair  belonging  to  a  young  lady,  whom  he  after- 


GEEAT  INVENTORS  AND  THEIR  INVENTIONS.  423 

ward  married.  In  1805  he  removed  to  Killingworth  col- 
liery, and  about  this  time  he  was  desirous  of  emigrating 
to  the  United  States,  but  was  unable  to  raise  money  for 
his  outfit  and  passage.  He  continued  to  work  at  his 
home  evenings  and  leisure  hours,  cutting  out  clothes  for 
the  miners,  mending  clocks  and  shoes,  and  all  this  time 
studying  mechanics  and  engineering  with  a  view  to  per- 
petual motion,  which  a  great  many  others  of  his  time 
were  studying. 

His  first  opportunity  to  show  his  superiority  was  when 
an  expensive  pump  had  been  put  in  the  colliery,  and 
utterly  failed  to  do  the  work  required  of  it.  Various  ex- 
perts gave  it  their  best  efforts,  but  it  still  refused  to  do 
what  was  required  of  it.  Stephenson  was  heard  to  say, 
by  some  of  the  workmen,  that  he  could  repair  it.  After 
all  others  had  failed,  the  overseer,  in  despair,  with 
but  little  expectation  that  anything  could  be  accom- 
plished by  a  raw  colliery  hand,  employed  him  to  attempt 
a  remedy.  He  took  the  engine  to  pieces  and  at  the  end 
of  a  few  days  repaired  it  ready  for  work,  and  in  two  days 
it  cleared  the  pit  of  water. 

For  this,  and  other  improvements  made  upon  old 
machinery,  he  was  appointed  chief  engineer  in  1813,  at 
Killingworth,  at  a  salary  of  £100  per  year.  Besides 
erecting  a  winding  engine  for  drawing  up  coal,  and  a 
pumping-engine,  he  projected  and  laid  down  a  self-act- 
ing incline  along  the  declivity  of  the  Willington  ballast 
quay,  so  arranged  that  full  wagons  descending  to  the 
vessels  drew  up  the  empty  ones.  But  the  construction 
of  an  efficient  and  economical  locomotive  steam  engine 
mainly  occupied  his  mind.  He  was  among  those  who 
saw  the  Blenkinsop  engine  first  put  on  the  track,  and 
watched  its  mechanism  for  some  time,  when  he  con- 


424  hidden;  treasures. 

eluded  he  could  make  a  better  machine.  He  found  a 
friend  in  his  employer,  Lord  Ravensworth,  who  furnished 
the  money,  and  in  the  work-shops  at  West  Moor,  Killing- 
worth,  with  the  aid  of  the  colliery  blacksmith,  he  con- 
vStructed  a  locomotive  which  was  completed  in  July, 
1S14.  The  affair,  though  clumsy,  worked  successfully 
on  the  Killingworth  railway,  drawing  eight  loaded 
carriages,  of  thirty  tons  each,  at  the  rate  of  four  miles 
an  hour.  It  was  the  first  locomotive  made  with  smooth 
wheels,  for  he  rejected  the  contrivance  which  Trevithick, 
Blenkinsop  and  others  had  thought  necessary  to  secure 
sufficient  adhesion  between  the  wheels  and  the  rails. 

While  engaged  on  plans  for  an  improved  engine  his 
attention  was  attracted  to  the  increase  in  the  draught  of 
the  furnace  obtained  by  turning  the  waste  steam  up  the 
chimney,  at  first  practiced  solely  in  the  desire  to  lessen 
the  noise  caused  by  the  escape  of  the  steam.  Hence 
originated  the  steam-blast,  the  most  important  improve- 
ment in  the  locomotive  up  to  that  time.  The  steam- 
blast,  the  joint  action  of  the  wheels  by  connecting  them 
with  horizontal  bars  on  the  outside,  and  a  simplifying 
connection  between  the  cylinder  and  the  wheels,  were 
embodied  in  the  second  engine,  completed  in  1815.  For 
some  years  Stephenson  had  been  experimenting  with 
the  fire-damp  in  the  mines,  and  in  the  above  year  com- 
pleted a  miner's  safety  lamp,  which  he  finally  perfected 
under  the  name  of  the  "Gregory  Lamp,"  which  is  still 
in  use  in  the  Killingworth  collieries.  The  invention  of 
a  safety  lamp  by  Sir  Humphry  Davy  was  nearly  simulta- 
neous, and  to  him  the  mining  proprietors  presented  a 
service  of  plate  worth  £2,000,  at  the  same  time  awarding 
.£100  to  Stephenson.  This  led  to  a  protracted  discussion 
as  to  the  priority  of  the  invention,  and  in  1817  Stephen- 


GREAT  INVENTORS  AND  THEIR  INVENTIONS.  425 

son's  friends  presented  him  with  a  purse  of  $5,000  and  a 
silver  tankard. 

Having  now  brought  the  locomotive  to  a  considerable 
degree  of  perfection,  Stephenson  next  turned  his  atten- 
tion to  the  improvement  of  railways,  his  opinion  being 
that  both  were  parts  of  one  mechanism,  and  that  the 
employment  of  steam  carriages  on  common  roads  was 
impracticable.  For  the  purpose  of  making  railways 
solid  and  level,  and  preventing  jerks  at  the  junction  of 
the  rails,  he  took  out  a  patent  for  an  improved  rail  and 
chair,  and  recommended  the  employment  of  heavier 
rails,  and  the  substitution  of  wrought  for  cast-iron.  In 
connection  with  these  improvements  he  added  consider- 
bly  to  the  lightness  and  strength  of  the  locomotive, 
simplified  the  construction  of  the  working  parts,  and 
substituted  steel  springs  for  the  small  cylinder,  on 
which  the  boiler  had  at  first  rested. 

His  next  important  undertaking  was  the  construc- 
tion of  a  railway  eight  miles  in  length,  for  the  owners  of 
the  Helton  Colliery,  which  was  successfully  opened  No- 
vember 18th,  1822.  The  level  parts  were  traversed  by 
five  of  Stephenson's  locomotives,  while  stationary  en- 
gines were  employed  to  overcome  the  heavy  grades. 

In  1820  an  act  of  Parliament  was  obtained  for  a  rail- 
way between  Stockton  and  Darlington,  which  was  opened 
September  27th,  1825.  Stephenson,  who  made  the  pre- 
liminary surveys  and  specifications,  was  appointed  engi- 
neer. The  line  was  intended  to  be  worked  by  stationary 
engines  for  the  steep  gradients,  with  horse-power  on  the 
level  portions ;  but  at  Stephenson's  urgent  request,  the 
act  was  amended  so  as  to  permit  the  use  of  locomotives 
on  all  parts  of  the  road.  In  the  meantime  he  had 
opened,  in  connection  with  Edward  Pease,  an  establish- 


426  HIDDKN   TREASURES. 

ment  for  the  manufacture  of  locomotives,  at  Newcastle- 

onTyne. 

In  1825  he  was  appointed  principal  engineer  of  the 

Liverpool  &  Manchester  railroad,  which  employed  him 
during  the  next  four  years.  Canals  connected  the  two 
towns,  Liverpool  and  Manchester,  but  it  was  believed 
that  the  carrying  trade  would  support  this  new  railway 
if  it  could  be  made  to  work.  The  people  were  told  by 
the  newspapers  that  locomotives  would  prevent  cows 
from  grazing  and  hens  from  laying.  The  i)oisoned  air 
from  the  locomotives  would  kill  birds  as  they  passed 
over  them,  and  render  the  preservation  of  pheasants  and 
foxes  no  longer  possible.  Householders  adjoining  the 
line  were  told  that  their  houses  would  be  burned  up  by 
fire  thrown  from  the  engine  chimneys,  while  the  air 
around  would  be  polluted  by  the  clouds  of  smoke.  There 
would  be  no  longer  any  use  for  horses,  and  if  the  rail- 
ways extended  the  species  would  become  extinct,  and 
therefore  oats  and  hay  would  become  unsalable.  Travel- 
ing by  road  would  be  rendered  exceedingly  dangerous, 
and  country  inns  would  be  ruined.  Boilers  would  burst 
and  blow  the  passengers  to  pieces. 

Of  course,  the  inculcation  of  such  theories  rendered 
it  extremely  difficult  for  Stephenson  and  his  party  to 
survey  for  the  proposed  line.  The  land-owners  along 
the  line  made  all  sorts  of  trouble  for  them.  Their  in- 
struments were  smashed  and  they  were  mobbed,  yet,  on 
they  went, — at  meal  times  they  worked,  before  the  resi- 
dents awoke  in  the  morning,  and  nights,  in  some  in- 
tances,  were  employed.  At  last  the  survey  was  accom- 
plished, the  plans  drawn,  and  the  estimates  furnished 
the  company,  were  approved. 

In  Parliament  even  more  opposition  was  experienced. 


GREAT  INVENTORS  AND  THEIR  INVENTIONS.  427 

Public  sentiment  can  be  inferred  from  an  article  which 
appeared  in  the  Quarterly  Review  for  March,  1825. 
Among  other  things  it  said  :  "What  can  be  more  pal- 
pably absurd  and  ridiculous  than  the  prospect  held  out 
of  locomotives  travelling  twice  as  fast  as  horses.  We 
should  as  soon  expect  the  people  of  Woolwich  to  suffer 
themselves  to  be  fired  off  upon  one  of  Congreve's  richochet 
rockets  as  to  trust  themselves  to  the  mercy  of  such  a 
machine,  going  at  such  a  rate.  We  trust  that  Parlia- 
ment will,  in  all  the  railways  it  may  grant,  limit  the 
speed  to  eight  or  nine  miles  an  hour,  which  we  entirely 
agree  with  Mr.  Sylvester  is  as  great  as  can  be  ventured  on. 
But  despite  all  such  seemingly  insurmountabilities, 
Stephenson  succeeded  in  getting  the  railway  bill  passed. 
But  the  troubles  of  George  Stephenson  were  not  at  an 
end.  The  company,  not  fully  satisfied  with  his  opinion 
alone,  conferred  w^ith  two  of  the  leading  engineers  of 
England,  who  reported  averse  to  the  locomotive,  recom- 
mending stationary  engines  at  a  distance  of  one  and 
a-half  miles  apart.  But  at  last  Stephenson  prevailed 
upon  the  company  to  offer  a  prize  of  about  $2,500  for  the 
best  locomotive  produced  at  a  trial  to  take  place  on  the 
6th  of  October,  1829.  At  last  the  eventful  day  came, 
and  with  it  thousands  of  spectators.  Four  engines  ap- 
peared to  compete  for  the  prizes,  "The  Novelty,"  the 
"Rocket,"  the  "Perseverance"  and  the  " Sanspareil." 
The  "  Perseverance"  could  only  make  six  miles  an  hour, 
and  as  the  rules  called  for  at  least  ten,  it  was  ruled  out. 
The  "Sanspareil  made  an  average  of  fourteen  miles  an 
hour,  but  as  it  burst  a  water-pipe,  it  lost  its  chance. 
The  "Novelty"  did  splendidly,  but  unluckily  also  burst 
a  pipe,  and  was  crowded  out,  leaving  the  field  to  the 
"Rocket,"  which  carried  off  the  honors.    The  average 


42b  HIDDEN   TREASURES. 

speed  made  by  this  engine,  which  belonged  to  Stephen- 
son, was  fifteen  miles,  and  even  attained  twenty-nine 
miles  an  hour. 

The  distinguishing  features  of  the  Rocket,  the  first 
high-speed  locomotive  of  the  standard  modern  type, 
were  the  multitubular  boiler,  which  was  not  Stephen- 
son's invention,  but  was  first  applied  by  him  to  loco- 
motives; the  blast  pipe;  and  the  direct  connection  of 
the  steam  cylinders  to  one  axle,  and  one  pair  of  wheels. 
At  the  opening  of  the  road,  September  15th,  1830,  eight 
locomotives,  constructed  at  the  Stephenson  works,  were 
employed,  and  Mr.  Huskinson,  having  been  accidentally 
struck  down  and  fatally  injured  by  the  Rocket,  was  con- 
veyed in  the  Northumbrian,  driven  by  George  Stephen- 
son, from  Parkside  to  Eceles,  fifteen  miles,  at  the  unprece- 
edented  rate  of  thirty-six  miles  an  hour. 

Stephenson  was  almost  incessantly  employed  for  the 
next  fifteen  years  on  new  roads,  and  was  called  three 
times  to  Belgium,  and  once  to  Spain  as  a  consulting  en- 
gineer. With  his  increasing  wealth  he  also  engaged 
extensively  and  profitably  in  coal  mining  and  lime 
v/orks,  particularly  in  the  neighborhood  of  Tapton  Park, 
an  elegant  seat  in  Derbyshire,  where  he  passed  his  latter 
years.   He  declined  the  honor  of  Knighthood. 

To  Watt  is  due  the  honor  of  giving  the  world  a  prac- 
tical stationary  engine;  George  Stephenson  picked  that 
engine  up  bodily  and  placed  it  on  wheels,  and  against 
the  most  direful  predictions  of  the  foremost  engineers 
of  his  age,  proved  the  practicability  of  harnessing  steam 
to  coaches  for  rapid  transportation. 

On  August  12th,  1848,  Stephenson  died,  leaving  an 
immense  fortune,  which  was  the  honest  reward  he 
deserved. 


GEEAT  INVENTORS  AND  THEIR  INVENTIONS.  42^ 


Benjamin  Franklin. 


POSSIBLY  there  never  has  lived  a  man  who  has  excited 
more  comment  than  has  the  subject  of  this  narra- 
tive, who  was  born  in  Boston,  January  17th,  1706.  His 
father  was  a  soap  boiler  and  tallow  chandler,  and  he  was 
the  fifteenth  in  a  family  of  seventeen  children. 

Young  Benjamin  was  expected  by  his  parents  to  be- 
come a  minister  of  the  Gospel,  and  for  this  purpose  was 
placed  in  school  at  the  age  of  eight,  but  the  reduced 
circumstances  of  his  father  compelled  his  return  home 
two  years  later,  and  he  began  the  work  of  cutting  wicks 
in  his  father's  establishment.  Afterwards  he  was  bound 
to  his  brother  James,  who  was  a  printer,  where  he  worked 
hard  all  day,  and  often  spent  half  the  night  in  reading- 

The  secret  of  his  great  success  can  be  readily  per- 
ceived, when  we  know  that  his  favorite  books  were 
Mather's  "Essays  to  Do  Good,'^  and  DeFoe's  "Essays  of 
Projects,"  and  many  others  of  alike  nature:  instead  of 
the  modern  "Three  Fingered  Jack,"  "Calamity  Jane," 
"The  Queen  of  the  Plains,"  or  the  more  *  refined'  of  to-' 
da/s  juvenile  reading. 

When  he  was  about  sixteen  he  wrote,  in  a  disguised 
hand,  an  article  for  his  brother's  paper.  This  article 
was  published  anonymously,  and  excited  great  curiosity. 
Other  articles  followed,  at  length  the  identity  of  the 
author  was  discovered,  and  for  some  unknown  reason 
the  elder  brother  was  offended.  From  that  hour  Benja- 
min resolved  to  leave  Boston,  as  his  brother's  influence 
was  used  to  his  disadvantage  in  that  city. 


430  HIDDEN  TREASURES. 

Embarking,  he  worked  his  passage  to  New  York, 
where  he  arrived  at  the  age  of  seventeen,  almost  penni- 
less, and  without  recommendations.  Failing  to  obtain 
work  here  he  continued  on  to  Philadelphia,  where  he 
arrived,  disappointed  but  not  discouraged.  He  now  had 
but  one  dollar,*  and  a  few  copper  coins,  in  the  world. 
Being  hungry,  he  bought  some  bread,  and  with  one  roll 
under  either  arm,  and  eating  the  third,  he  passed  up  the 
street  on  which  his  destined  wife  lived,  and  she  beheld 
him  as  he  presented  this  ridiculous  appearance.  Obtain- 
ing employment,  he  secured  board  and  lodging  with  Mr. 
Eeed,  afterward  his  father-in-law. 

Being  induced  to  think  of  going  into  business  for 
himself,  through  promises  of  financial  help  from  influ- 
ential parties,  he  sailed  to  London  for  the  purpose  of 
buying  the  necessary  requisites  for  a  printing  office. 
Not  until  his  arrival  in  that  great  city,  London,  did  he 
learn  of  the  groundlessness  of  his  hope  for  aid  from  the 
expected  quarter.  In  a  strange  land,  friendless  and 
alone,  without  money  to  pay  his  return  passage,  such 
was  his  predicament ;  yet  he  lost  not  his  courage,  but 
obtained  employment  as  a  printer,  writing  his  betrothed 
that  he  should  likely  never  return  to  America.  His  stay 
in  London  lasted,  however,  but  about  eighteen  months, 
during  which  time  he  succeeded  in  reforming  some  of 
his  beer-drinking  companions. 

In  1826  he  returned  to  America  as  a  dry-goods  clerk, 
but  the  death  of  his  employer  fortunately  turned  his 
attention  once  more  to  his  especial  calling,  and  he  soon 
after  formed  a  partnership  with  a  Mr.  Meredith.  This 
was  in  1728.  Miss  Reed,  during  his  stay  abroad,  had  been 
induced  to  marry  another  man  who  proved  to  be  a 
scoundrel ;  leaving  her  to  escape  punishment  for  debt, 


GREAT  INVENTORS  AND  THEIR  INVENTIONS.  431 

and,  it  is  alleged,  with  an  indictment  for  bigamy  hanging 
over  his  head.  Franklin  attributed  much  of  thia  misfor- 
tune to  himself,  and  resolved  to  repair  the  injury  so  far 
as  lay  within  his  power.  Accordingly  he  married  her 
in  1830.  This  proved  a  most  happy  union.  His  business 
connection  with  Mr.  Meridith  being  dissolved,  he  pur- 
chased the  miserably  conducted  sheet  of  Mr.  Keimer, 
his  former  employer,  and  under  Franklin's  management 
it  became  a  somewhat  influential  journal  of  opinion. 

It  was  through  this  channel  that  those  homely  say- 
ings, with  such  rich  meanings,  first  appeared  in  print. 
His  great  intelligence,  industry  and  ingenuity  in  devis- 
ing reforms,  and  the  establishment  of  the  first  circulating 
library,  soon  won  for  him  the  esteem  of  the  entire 
country.  1732  is  memorable  as  the  year  in  which  ap- 
peared his  almanac  in  which  was  published  the  sayings 
of  the  world-famous  'Poor  Richard.'  This  almanac 
abounded  with  aphorisms  and  quaint  sayings,  the  in- 
fluence of  which  tended  mightily  to  economy,  and  it  was 
translated  into  foreign  languages,  in  fact  was  the  most 
popular  almanac  ever  printed. 

After  ten  years'  absence  he  returned  to  liis  native 
city,  Boston,  and  his  noble  instincts  were  shown,  as  he 
consolingly  promised  his  dying  brother  that  he  would 
care  for  his  nephew,  his  brother's  son.  Returning  to 
Philadelphia  he  became  postmaster  of  that  city,  estab- 
lished a  fire  department,  becomes  a  member  of  the 
Assembly,  to  which  office  he  is  elected  ten  consecutive 
years. 

Although  he  was  not  an  orator,  no  man  wielded  more 
influence  over  the  legislative  department  than  did 
Franklin.  As  is  well-known,  he  invented  the  celebrated 
Franklin  Stove,  which  proved  so  economical,  and  for 


432  HIDDEN    TREASURES. 

which  he  refused  a  patent.  For  years  he  entertained 
the  theory  that  galvanic  electricity,  and  that  which  pro- 
duced lightning  and  thunder  were  identical;  but  it  was 
not  until  1752  that  he  demonstrated  the  truth  by  an 
original  but  ingenious  contrivance  attached  to  a  kite,  and 
to  Franklin  we  owe  the  honor  of  inventing  the  lighning 
rod,  but  not  its  abuse  which  has  caused  such  widespread 
animosity  to  that  valuable  instrument  of  self-preser- 
vation. 

These  discoveries  made  the  name  of  Franklin  re- 
spected throughout  the  scientific  world.  Forever  after 
this  period,  during  his  life,  he  was  connected  with  na- 
tional affairs.  At  one  time  he  was  offered  a  commission 
as  General  in  the  Provincial  Army,  but  distrusting  his 
military  qualifications  he  unequivocally  declined.  Sir 
Humphrey  Davy  said  :  "Franklin  seeks  rather  to  make 
philosophy  a  useful  inmate  and  servant  in  the  common 
habitations  of  man,  than  to  preserve  her  merely  as  an 
object  for  admiration  in  temples  and  palaces."  While  it 
is  said  of  him  by  some  that  he  always  had  a  keen  eye  to 
his  own  interests  all  are  forced  to  add  he  ever  had  a 
benevolent  concern  for  the  public  welfare. 

The  burdens  bearing  so  heavily  upon  the  colonies : 
Pennsylvania,  Maryland,  Georgia,  and  Massachusetts, 
appointed  Franklin  as  their  agent  to  the  mother-country. 
Arriving  in  London  in  1757,  despite  his  mission,  honors 
awaited  him  at  every  turn.  There  he  associated  with 
the  greatest  men  of  his  time,  and  the  universities  of 
Edinburgh  and  Oxford  honored  him  with  the  title  of  L.L.D. 
and  the  poor  journeyman  printer  of  a  few  years  before, 
associated  with  princes  and  kings.  At  the  end  of  five 
years  he  returned  to  America,  and  in  1762  received  the  offi- 
cial thanks  of  the  Assembly.  Two  years  later  he  was 
27 


GREAT  INY15NT0RS  AND  THEIK  INVENTIONS.  433 

again  sent  to  England,  and  he  opposed  the  obnoxious 
stamp  act,  and  where  he  carried  himself  with  decorum 
and  great  ability  before  the  entire  nobility,  Upon  his 
return  to  America  he  was  made  a  member  of  the  Assem- 
bly the  day  he  landed,  where  he  exerted  his  whole  influ- 
ence for  a  Declaration  of  Independence,  and  soon  after 
had  the  pleasure  of  signing  such  a  document. 

In  1776  Congress  sent  him  to  France,  where  he  be- 
came one  of  the  greatest  diplomats  this  country  has  ever 
known.  During  his  voyage  over  he  made  observations 
relative  to  the  Gulf  Stream,  and  the  chart  he  drew  of  it 
nearly  one  hundred  years  ago,  still  forms  the  basis  of 
maps  on  the  subject.  As  is  well  known,  to  Franklin 
more  than  all  others,  are  we  indebted  for  the  kindly 
interference  by  France  in  our  behalf,  whose  efforts, 
though  ineffective  in  the  field,  helped  the  revolutionary 
cause  wonderfully  in  gaining  prestige.  At  the  close  of 
the  war  Franklin  was  one  of  the  commissioners  in 
framing  that  treaty  which  recognized  American  inde- 
pendence. His  simple  winning  ways  won  for  him  admi- 
ration in  any  court  of  embroidery  and  lace,  while  his 
world-wide  reputation  as  a  philosopher  and  statesman 
won  for  him  a  circle  of  acquaintances  of  the  most  varied 
character.  On  the  17th  of  April,  1790,  this  great  states- 
man died,  and  fully  20,000  people  followed  him  to  the 
tomb.    The  inscription  he  had  designed  read  : 

**The  body  of  Benjamin  Franklin,  printer; 
Like  the  cover  of  an  old  book — 
Its  contents  torn  out,  and  etript  of  its  lettering  and  gilding: 
Lies  here  food  for  worms." 

Yet  the  work  itself  shall  not  be  lost.  For  it  will,  as 
he  believed,  appear  once  more,  in  a  new  and  more  beau- 
tiful edition,  corrected  and  amended  by  the  Author. 


434  HIDDEN   TREASURES. 

Truly,  America  has  been  rich  in  great  men,  of  which 
Franklin  was  not  the  least.  Dr.  Franklin,  in  his  will, 
left  his  native  town  of  Boston,  the  sum  of  one  thousand 
pounds,  to  be  lent  to  the  young  married  artificers  upon 
good '  security  and  under  odd  conditions.  If  the  plan 
should  be  carried  out  as  successfully  as  he  expected,  he 
reckoned  that  this  sum  would  amount  in  one  hundred 
years  to  one  hundred  and  thirty-one  thousand  pounds. 
It  was  his  wish,  and  so  expressed  in  his  will  that  one 
hundred  thousand  pounds  should  be  spent  upon  public 
works,  "which  may  then  be  judged  of  most  general  util- 
ity to  the  inhabitants  ;  such  as  fortifications,  bridges, 
aqueducts,  public  buildings,  baths,  pavements,  or  what- 
ever makes  living  in  the  town  more  convenient  to  its 
people,  and  renders  it  more  agreeable  to  strangers  re- 
sorting thither  for  health  or  temporary  residence.''  It 
was  also  his  wish  that  the  remaining  thirty-one  thousand 
pounds  should  again  be  put  upon  interest  for  another 
hundred  years,  at  the  end  of  which  time  the  whole 
amount  was  to  be  divided  between  the  city  and  the 
State.  The  bequest  at  the  end  of  the  first  one  hundred 
years  may  not  attain  the  exact  figure  he  calculated,  but  it 
is  sure  to  be  a  large  sum.  At  the  present  time  it  is  more 
than  one  hundred  and  seventy-five  thousand  dollars,  and 
it  has  many  years  yet  to  run. 


i. 
t 


V 

!■■• 


-^^ 


GREAT  INVENTORS  AND  THEIR  INVENTIONS.  435 


Eli  Whitney. 


THE  year  of  1765  was  made  famous  by  the  birth  of  a 
man  who  was  destined  to  enrich  his  country  millions 
of  dollars. 

Eli  Whitney  was  born  at  Westborough,  Massachu- 
setts, December  8th,  1765,  and  received  a  good  education, 
graduating  at  Yale  College.  Going  South  as  a  tutor  in 
a  private  family,  his  attention  was  arrested  by  the  slow 
process  by  which  the  seed  was  extracted  from  cotton. 
At  that  time  a  pound  of  greenseed  cotton  was  all  that  a 
negro  woman  could  clean  in  a  day. 

At  the  instance  of  Mrs.  Greene,  widow  of  General 
Greene,  he  set  about  constructing  a  machine  to  do  the 
work.  He  had  no  facilities  for  pushing  the  work,  even 
having  to  manufacture  his  tools,  but  he  persevered  and 
accomplished  his  purpose.  Eumors  of  the  machine 
spreading  over  the  State,  a  mob  at  night  broke  open  the 
building  wherein  the  machine  was  stored,  carried  his 
precious  model  away,  and  before  he  could  make  another, 
various  machines  were  in  use.  However,  he  went  North 
to  Connecticut  and  established  a  manufactory  to  make 
the  machines.  South  Carolina  granted  him  $50,000  after 
'  long  and  vexatious  litigation,  and  North  Carolina 
allowed  him  a  per  centage,  which  was  paid  in  good  faith. 

But,  although  Eli  Whitney  had  invented  a  machine 
which  would  do  in  one  day  as  much  as  an  ordinary  hand 
would  in  months,  which  has  been  worth  hundred  of 
millions  of  dollars  to  the  South;  yet,  through  the  influ- 
ence of  Southern  members,  Congress  would  not  renew 


436  HIDDEN  TREASURES. 

his  patent,  and  so  much  opposition  was  raised  that  he 
actually  never  received  from  his  invention  the  money 
he  had  spent  to  perfect  it.  All  efforts  to  obtain  a  finan- 
cial recognition  in  this  invention  failing,  he  abandonee? 
the  manufacture  of  the  cotton-gin.  He  was  not  dis- 
couraged, not  at  all,  but  turned  his  attention  to  fire-arms. 
These  he  greatly  improved,  being  the  first  to  make 
them  adjustable,  that  is,  any  single  piece  to  fit  the  same 
place  in  any  of  the  thousands  of  guns  that  might  be  in 
process  of  manufacture  in  his  works.  He  manufactured 
arms  for  the  government,  and  reaped  a  fortune  which 
he  had  so  honestly  earned. 

On  January  8th,  1825,  the  country  lost  this  wonder- 
ful genius,  but  his  fame  is  growing  year  by  year,  as  one 
of  the  world's  benefactors. 


Robert  Fulton. 


THE  genius  of  Fulton  was  of  no  ordinary  mold.  It 
began  to  unfold  in  less  than  ten  years  after  his 
birth,  which  occurred  at  Little  Britain,  Pennsylvania,  in 
the  year  1765.  His  parents  were  farmers,  and  of  Irish 
birth,  but  Protestants  in  religious  belief. 

At  seventeen  he  went  to  Philadelphia  and  begun  the 
study  of  printing.  Four  years  later  he  evinced  such 
decided  talents  in  miniature  painting  that  his  friends 
united  in  sending  him  to  London,  where  he  remained 
for  some  years  under  the  teaching  of  the  world-renowned 
West.    Being  a  friend  of  West,  he  was  thus  drawn  into* 


GREAT  INVENTORS  AND  THEIR  INVENTIONS.  437 

association  with  such  men  as  the  Duke  of  Bridgewater 
and  the  Earl  of  Stanhope.  Through  the  influence  of  the 
former  he  adopted  the  profession  of  a  civil  engineer. 
He  also  became  acquainted  with  Watt,  who  had  just 
brought  out  his  great  improvement  on  the  steam  engine, 
the  details  of  which  Fulton  mastered. 

While  in  London,  at  this  time,  he  also  contrived  a 
new  device  for  sawing  marble  which  proved  to  be  a 
valuable  improvement.  To  this  period  in  his  life  also 
belongs  his  invention  of  a  machine  for  spinning  flax. 
In  1797  he  removed  to  Paris  where  he  remained  seven 
years,  assidiously  studying  the  sciences.  It  was  during 
his  sojourn  there  that  he  brought  out  his  celebrated 
torpedo-boat,  since  known  as  the  l^autilus,  a  name 
derived  from  its  resemblance  in  action  to  that  wonder- 
ful little  animal.  This  boat  was  a  plunging  machine 
designed  for  sub-marine  service  in  placing  torpedoes  and 
other  work,  for  which  a  submarine  vessel  could  be  used. 
According  to  Golden  this  boat  was  brought  to  a  wonder- 
ful state  of  perfection,  his  account  of  which  may  be 
interesting. 

On  the  3rd  of  July,  1801,  he  embarked  with  three 
companions  on  board  his  plunging  boat,  in  the  harbor  of 
Brest,  and  descended  in  it  to  the  depth  of  five,  ten,  fif- 
teen, and  so  on,  to  twenty-five  feet ;  but  he  did  not  at- 
tempt to  go  deeper  because  he  found  that  his  imperfect 
machine  would  not  bear  the  pressure  of  a  greater  depth. 
He  remained  below  the  surface  one  hour.  During  the 
time,  they  were  in  utter  darkness.  Afterwards  he  de- 
scended with  candles ;  but  finding  a  great  disadvantange 
from  their  consumption  of  vital  air  he  caused,  previous 
to  his  next  experiment,  a  small  window  of  thick  glass 
to  be  made  near  the  bow  of  his  boat,  and  he  again  de- 


438  HIDDEN  TREASURES. 

scended  with  her  on  the  24th  of  July,  1801.  He  found 
that  he  received  from  his  window,  or  rather  aperture 
covered  with  glass,  for  it  was  no  more  than  an  inch  and 
a  half  in  diameter,  sufficient  light  for  him  to  count  the 
minutes  on  his  watch. 

Having  satisfied  himself  that  he  could  have  sufficient 
light  when  under  water ;  that  he  could  do  without  a  sup- 
ply of  fresh  air  for  a  considerable  time ;  that  he  could 
descend  to  any  depth  and  rise  to  the  surface  with  equal 
facility;  his  next  object  was  to  try  her  movements  as 
well  on  the  surface  as  beneath  it.  On  the  26th  of  July 
he  weighed  his  anchor  and  hoisted  his  sails ;  his  boat  had 
one  mast,  a  main-sail  and  a  jib.  There  was  only  a  light 
breeze,  and  therefore  she  did  not  move  on  the  surface  at 
more  than  the  rate  of  two  miles  an  hour ;  but  it  was^ 
found  that  she  would  tack  and  steer,  and  sail  on  a  wind 
or  before  it  as  well  as  any  common  sail-boat.  He  then 
struck  her  masts  and  sails ;  to  do  which,  and  to  perfectly 
prepare  the  boat  for  plunging,  required  about  two  min- 
utes. Having  plunged  to  a  certain  depth  he  placed  two 
men  at  the  engine  which  was  intended  to  give  her  pro- 
gressive motion,  and  one  at  the  helm,  while  he,  with  a 
barometer  before  him,  governed  the  machine  which  kept 
her  balanced  between  the  upper  and  lower  waters.  He 
found  that  with  the  exertion  of  only  one  hand  he  could 
keep  her  at  any  depth  he  desired.  The  propelling  en- 
gine was  then  put  in  motion,  and  he  found  that  on  com- 
ing to  the  surface  he  had,  in  about  seven  minutes,  made 
a  progress  of  four  hundred  metres,  or  five  hundred  yards. 
He  then  again  plunged,  turned  her  around,  while  under 
the  water,  and  returned  to  near  the  place  he  began  to 
move  from. 


GREAT  INVENTORS  AND  THEIR  INVENTIONS.  439 

He  repeated  his  experiments  several  days  successively 
until  he  became  familiar  v^ith  the  operation  of  the  ma- 
chinery, and  the  movements  of  the  boat.  He  found  that 
she  was  as  obedient  to  her  helm  under  water,  as  any 
boat  could  be  on  the  surface,  and  that  the .  magnetic 
needle  traversed  as  well  in  the  one  as  in  the  other. 

On  the  27th  of  August  Mr.  Fulton  again  descended 
with  a  store  of  atmospheric  air  compressd  into  a  copper 
globe,  of  a  cubic  foot  capacity,  into  which  two  hundred 
atmospheres  were  forced.  Thus  prepared  he  descended 
with  three  companions  to  the  depth  of  five  feet.  At  the 
expiration  of  an  hour  and  forty  minutes,  he  began  to 
take  small  supplies  of  pure  air  from  his  reservoir,  and 
did  so,  as  he  found  occasion,  for  four  hours  and  twenty 
minutes.  At  the  expiration  of  the  time  he  came  to  the 
surface  without  having  experienced  any  inconvenience 
from  having  been  so  long  under  the  water. 

Fulton,  about  this  time,  hearing  of  Fitche's  experi- 
ments in  the  United  States  with  steam,  became  more 
than  ever  interested  in  the  subject  of  "navigating  boats 
by  means  of  fire  and  water."  Our  Minister  to  Great 
Britain,  Robert  R.  Livingstone,  becoming  greatly  inter- 
ested in  steam  navigation,  and  especially  in  Fulton's 
ideas  in  the  matter,  agreed  to  furnish  the  necessary  funds 
to  bring  to  success  the  enterprise.  Accordingly,  they 
ordered  an  engine  of  Watt  &  Boulton,  "which  would 
propel  a  large  boat,"  and  the  engine  arrived  in  America 
during  the  year  1806.  Fulton  at  once  set  to  work  to 
build  a  boat  to  fit  the  machinery,  and  in  1807  the  "Cler- 
mont" was  ready  for  trial. 

The  reader  will  not  be  surprised  at  the  statement  of 
an  eye-witness:  "When  it  was  announced  in  the  New 
York  papers  that  the  boat  would  start  from  Cortlandt 


440  HIDDEN   TREASURES. 

street  at  6:30  a.  m.,  on  the  4th  of  August,  and  take  pas- 
sengers to  Albany,  there  was  a  broad  smile  on  every  face 
as  the  inquiry  was  made  if  any  one  would  be  fool  enough 
to  go?"  One  friend  was  heard  to  accost  another  in  the 
street  with :  "John,  will  thee  risk  thy  life  in  such  a  con- 
cern? I  tell  thee  she  is  the  most  fearful  wild  fowl  living, 
and  thy  father  should  restrain  thee."  When  the  event- 
ful morning  came,  Friday  August  4th,  1807,  the  wharves, 
piers,  housetops,  and  every  available  elevation  was 
crowded  with  spectators.  All  the  machinery  was  uncov- 
ered and  exposed  to  view.  The  periphery  of  the  balance 
Wheels  of  cast  iron,  some  four  or  more  inches  square, 
l:an  just  clear  of  the  water.  There  were  no  outside 
guards,  the  balance  wheels  being  supported  by  their 
respective  shafts,  which  projected  over  the  sides  of  the 
boat.  The  forward  part  was  covered  by  a  deck  which 
afforded  shelter  for  her  hands.  The  after-part  was  fitted 
up  in  a  rough  manner  for  passengers.  The  entrance 
into  the  cabin  was  from  the  stern  in  front  of  the  steers- 
man, who  worked  a  tiller  as  in  an  ordinary  sloop. 

Black  smoke  issued  from  the  chimney ;  steam  issued 
from  every  ill-fitted  valve  and  crevice  of  the  engine. 
Fulton  himself  was  there.  His  remarkably  clear  and 
sharp  voice  was  heard  high  above  the  hum  of  the  multi- 
tude and  the  noise  of  the  engine,  his  step  was  confident 
and  decided ;  he  heeded  not  the  fearf ulness,  doubts  or 
sarcasm  of  those  by  whom  he  was  surrounded.  The 
whole  scene  combined  had  in  it  an  individuality,  as  well 
as  an  interest,  which  comes  but  once,  and  is  remembered 
a  lifetime.  Everything  being  ready  the  engine  was  set 
in  motion,  and  the  boat  moved  steadily  but  slowly  from 
the  wharf.  As  she  turned  up  the  river  and  was  fairly 
under  way,  there  arose  such  a  huzza  as  ten  thousand 


GREAT  INVENTORS  AND  THEIR  INVENTIONS.  441 

throats  never  gave  before.  The  passengers  returned  the 
cheer,  but  Fulton  stood  upon  the  deck,  his  eyes  flashing 
with  an  unusual  brilliancy  as  he  surveyed  the  crowd. 
He  felt  that  the  magic  wand  of  success  was  waving  over 
him  and  he  was  silent.  The  entire  trip  was  an  ovation, 
and  is  thus  described  by  Golden : 

^'From  other  vessels  which  were  navigating  the  river 
she  had  the  most  terrific  appearance  when  she  was 
making  her  passage.  The  first  steam-boats  used  dry 
pine  for  fuel,  which  sends  forth  a  column  of  ignited 
vapor  many  feet  above  the  flue  and  whenever  the  fire  is 
stirred  a  galaxy  of  sparks  fly  off,  and  in  the  night  have  a 
very  beautiful  and  brilliant  appearance.  This  uncom- 
mon light  first  attracted  the  attention  of  the  crews  of 
other  vessels.  Notwithstanding  the  wind  and  the  tide 
were  adverse  to  its  approach  they  saw  with  astonish- 
ment that  it  was  coming  rapidly  towards  them ;  and 
when  it  came  so  near  that  the  noise  of  the  machinery 
and  paddles  was  heard,  the  crews  (if  what  was  said  at 
the  time  in  the  newspapers  be  true)  in  some  instances 
shrunk  beneath  the  decks  from  the  terrific  sight,  and  left 
the  vessels  to  go  ashore,  while  others  prostrated  them- 
selves and  besought  Providence  to  protect  them  from 
the  approach  of  the  horrible  monster,  which  was  march- 
ing on  the  tides  and  lighting  its  path  by  the  fires  it 
vomited/' 

Of  peculiar  interest  and  instruction  is  the  following 
narrative  connected  with  this  historic  voyage  from  the 
graphic  pen  of  one  who  was  personally  an  actor  in  the 
scene  described:  "I  chanced  to  be  at  Albany  on  business 
when  Fulton  arrived  there  in  his  unheard  of  craft, 
which  everbody  felt  so  much  anxiety  to  see.  Being 
ready  to  leave,  and  hearing  that  his  craft  was  going  to 


442  HIDDEN    TREASURES. 

return  to  New  York,  I  repaired  on  board  and  inquired 
for  Mr.  Fulton.  I  was  referred  to  the  cabin,  and  there 
found  a  plain,  gentlemanly  man,  wholly  alone  and  en- 
gaged in  writing.  'Mr.  Fulton,  I  presume?'  'Yes  sir.' 
'Do  you  return  to  New  York  with  this  boat?'  'We  shall 
try  to  get  back,  sir.'  '  Can  I  have  a  passage  down  ?  '^ 
'  You  can  take  your  chance  with  us,  sir.'  I  inquired  the 
amount  to  be  paid,  and  after  a  moment's  hesitation,  a 
sum,  I  think  six  dollars,  was  named.  The  amount  in 
coin,  I  laid  in  his  open  hand,  and  with  his  eye  fixed 
upon  it,  he  remained  so  long  motionless  that  I  supposed 
it  might  be  a  miscount,  and  said  to  him,  '  Is  that  right 
sir? '  This  question  roused  him  as  from  a  kind  of  reverie, 
and,  as  he  looked  up,  the  tears  were  brimming  in  his 
eyes  and  his  voice  faltered  as  he  said:  'Excuse  me  sir; 
but  my  memory  was  busy,  as  I  contemplated  this,  the 
first  pecuniary  reward  I  have  ever  received  for  all  my 
exertions  in  adapting  steam  to  navigation.  I  should 
gladly  commemorate  the  occasion  over  a  bottle  of  wine 
with  you  but  really  I  am  too  poor  for  that  just  now;  yet,. 
I  trust  we  may  meet  again  when  this  will  not  be  the  case.' 
"  Some  four  years  after  this,"  continues  the  writer  of 
this  reminiscence,  "  when  the  Clermont  had  been  greatly 
improved,  and  her  name  changed  to  North  River,  and 
when  two  other  boats,  the  Car  of  Neptune  and  the  Para- 
gon had  been  built,  making  Mr.  Fulton's  fleet  consist  of 
three  boats  regularly  plying  between  New  York  and 
Albany,  I  took  passage  upon  one  of  these  for  the  latter 
city.  The  cabin  in  that  day  was  below,  and  as  I  walked 
its  deck,  to  and  fro,  I  saw  that  I  was  very  closely  ob- 
served by  one,  I  supposed  a  stranger.  Soon,  however,  I 
recalled  the  features  of  Mr.  Fulton;  but  without  disclos- 
ing this,  I  continued  my  walk.    At  length,  in  passing  his 


GREAT  INVENTORS  AND  THEIR  INVENTIONS.  44B 

seat,  our  eyes  met,  when  he  sprang  to  his  feet  and 
eagerly  seizing  my  hand,  exclaimed,  '  I  knew  it  must  be 
you,  for  your  features  have  never  escaped  me;  and, 
although  I  am  still  far  from  rich,  yet  I  may  venture 
that  BOTTLE  NOW  !'  It  was  ordered,  and  during  its  dis- 
cussion Mr.  Fulton  ran  rapidly,  but  vividly,  over  his  ex- 
perience of  the  world's  coldness  and  sneers,  and  the 
hopes,  fears,  disappointments  and  difficulties  that  were 
scattered  through  his  whole  career  of  discovery  up  to 
the  very  point  of  his  final  crowning  triumph,  at  which 
he  so  fully  felt  he  had  at  last  arrived. 

And  in  reviewing  all  these  matters,  he  said  :  "I  have 
again  and  again  recalled  the  occasion,  and  the  incident 
of  our  first  interview  at  Albany ;  and  never  have  I  done 
so  without  renewing  in  my  mind  the  vivid  emotion  it 
originally  caused.  That  seemed,  and  does  still  seem  to 
me,  the  turning  point  in  my  destiny,  the  dividing  line 
between  light  and  darkness,  in  my  career  upon  earth, 
for  it  was'  the  first  actual  recognition  of  my  usefulness 
to  my  fellow-men."  Why  was  it  that  Fulton  won  re- 
nown. True  it  was  that  he  possessed  unusual  genius. 
We  know  that  every  one  cannot  be  a  Fulton,  jet  how 
few  there  are  who  would  have  exercised  the  stick-to-it- 
ive-ness  that  he  was  obliged  to  do  before  success  came.. 
How  f evf  would  have  passed  through  the  trials  and  with- 
stood the  sneers  that  Robert  Fulton  passed  through.  On 
the  24th  of  February,  1815,  he  died,  when  the  honor  of 
first  crossing  the  ocean  by  steam  power  was  being  con- 
templated by  him,  but  his  fame  was  established,  and  need 
naught  to  enhance  it. 


444  HIDDEN   TREASURES. 


Elias  Howe  Jr. 


DIFFERENCE  of  opinion  there  may  be  as  to  the  ab- 
stract question,  who  first  conceived  the  principle 
involved  in  sewing  by  machinery,  or  in  respect  to  who 
first  constructed  a  machine  that  would  fulfill  that  idea; 
but  so  far  as  great  results  are  concerned  the  world  must 
be  considered  as  indebted  to  Elias  Howe,  Jr.,  a  New 
England  mechanic,  born  and  reared  in  obscurity,  and  at 
an  early  age  thrown  upon  his  own  resources.  He  was 
born  at  Spencer,  Massachusetts,  July  9th,  1819.  His  father 
was  a  farmer  and  miller,  but  at  sixteen  he  left  home, 
engaging  in  a  cotton  mill.  Space  will  not  permit  us  to 
follow  him  through  all  the  details  of  his  varied  expe-* 
rience  during  his  early  years.  It  will  be  sufficient  to  say 
that  he  lived  in  Boston  in  his  twentieth  year,  where  he 
was  working  in  a  machine-shop.  He  was  a  good  work- 
man, having  learned  his  trade  at  Harvard  by  the  side  of 
his  cousin,  Nathaniel  Banks,  who  has  since  greatly  dis- 
tinguished himself  as  a  general  in  the  United  States 
army  and  speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives. 

He  was  married  soon  after,  and  when  twenty-two  or 
three,  his  health  failing,  he  found  himself  surrounded  by 
a  family,  and  poverty  staring  him  in  the  face.  The  idea 
suggested  itself  to  Howe  in  the  following  manner,  as 
described  by  Parton  in  the  Atlantic  Monthly:  "In  the 
year  1839  two  men  in  Boston,  one  a  mechanic,  the  other 
a  capitalist,  were  striving  to  produce  a  knitting-machine, 
which  proved  to  be  a  task  beyond  their  strength.  When 
the  inventor  was  at  his  wit's  end,  his  capitalist  brought 


GREAT  INVENTORS  AND  THEIR  INVENTIONS.  445 

the  machine  to  the  shop  of  Ari  Davis,  to  see  if  that 
eccentric  genius  could  suggest  the  solution  of  the  diffi- 
culty, and  make  the  machine  work.  The  shop,  resolving 
itself  into  a  committee  of  the  whole,  gathered  about  the 
knitting-machine  and  its  proprietor,  and  were  listening 
to  an  explanation  of  its  principles,  when  Davis,  in  his 
wild,  extravagant  way,  broke  in  with  the  question  : 
*What  are  you  bothering  yourself  with  a  knitting-ma- 
chine for?  Why  don't  you  make  a  sewing-machine?'  'I 
wish  I  could,'  said  the  capitalist,  ^but  it  can't  be  done.' 
*0h,  yes,  it  can,'  said  Davis,  *I  can  make  a  sewing- 
machine  myself.'  'Well,'  said  the  other;  'you  do  it, 
Davis,  and  I'll  insure  you  an  independent  fortune.'  There 
the  conversation  dropped,  and  was  never  resumed.  The 
boastful  remark  of  the  master  of  the  shop  was  consid- 
ered one  of  his  sallies  of  affected  extravagance,  as  it 
really  was,  and  the  response  of  the  capitalist  to  it  was 
uttered  without  a  thought  of  producing  an  effect.  Nor 
did  it  produce  any  effect  upon  the  person  to  whom  it  was 
addressed,  as  Davis  never  attempted  to  construct  a  sew- 
ing-machine. 

'•Among  the  workmen  who  stood  by  and  listened  to 
this  conversation  was  a  young  man  from  the  country,  a 
new  hand  named  Elias  Howe,  then  twenty  years  old. 
The  person  whom  we  have  named  capitalist,  a  well- 
dressed  and  fine  looking  man,  somewhat  consequential 
in  his  manners,  was  an  imposing  figure  in  the  eyes  of 
this  youth,  new  to  city  ways,  and  he  was  much  im- 
pressed with  the  emphatic  assurance  that  a  fortune  was 
in  store  for  the  man  who  would  invent  a  sewing-machine. 
He  was  the  more  struck  with  it  because  he  had  already 
amused  himself  with  inventing  some  slight  improve- 
ments, and  recently  he  had  caught  from  Davis  the  habit 


446  HIDDEN  TREASURES. 

of  medifcating  new  devices.  The  spirit  of  invention,  as 
all  mechanics  know,  is  exceedingly  contagious.  One 
man  in  a  shop  who  invents  something  that  proves  suc- 
cessful will  give  the  mania  to  half  his  companions,  and 
the  very  apprentices  will  be  tinkering  over  a  device 
after  their  days's  work  is  done." 

Thus  it  was  that  the  idea  of  a  sewing-machine  first 
entered  Howe's  mind.  The  following  is  the  touching 
story  of  Howe's  early  struggle  and  final  triumph  as  told 
by  himself :  "I  commenced  the  invention  of  my  sewing- 
machine  as  early  as  1841,  when  I  was  twenty-two  years 
of  age.  Being  then  dependent  on  my  daily  labor  for  the 
support  of  myself  and  my  family  I  could  not  devote  my 
attention  to  the  subject  during  the  working  hours  of  the 
day,  but  I  thought  on  it  when  I  could,  day  and  night. 
It  grew  on  until  1844;  I  felt  impelled  to  yield  my  whole 
time  to  it.  During  this  period  I  worked  on  my  inven- 
tion mentally  as  much  as  I  could,  having  only  the  aid  of 
needles  and  such  other  small  devices  as  I  could  carry  in 
my  pockets,  and  use  at  irregular  intervals  of  daily  labor 
at  my  trade.  I  was  poor,  but  with  promises  of  aid  from 
a  friend,  I  thereafter  devoted  myself  exclusively  to  the 
construction  and  practical  completion  of  my  machine. 
I  worked  alone  in  an  upper  room  in  my  friend's  house, 
and  finished  my  first  machine  by  the  middle  of  May,  1845. 

^'This  was  a  period  of  intense  and  persistent  applica- 
tion, of  all  the  powers  I  possessed,  to  the  practical  em- 
bodiment of  my  mechanical  ideas  into  a  successful 
sewing-machine.  I  soon  tested  the  practical  success  of 
my  first  machine  by  sewing  with  it  all  the  principal 
seams  in  two  suits  of  clothes,  one  for  myself,  and  one 
for  my  friend.  Our  clothes  were  as  well  made  as  any 
made  by  hand-sewing.    I  still  have  my  first  machine ; 


GREAT  INVENTORS  AND  THEIR  INVENTIONS.  447 

and  it  will  now  sew  as  good  a  seam  as  any  sewing-ma- 
chine known  to  me.  My  first  machine  was  described  in 
the  specification  of  my  patent,  and  I  then  made  a  second 
machine,  to  be  deposited  in  the  patent  office  as  a  model. 

I  then  conveyed  one-half  of  my  invention  and  patent 
to  my  friend,  for  five  hundred  dollars ;  in  fact,  though  a 
much  larger  sum  (ten  thousand  dollars)  was  named  in 
the  deed  at  his  suggestion.  My  patent  was  issued  on  the 
10th  of  September,  1846.  I  made  a  third  machine,  which 
I  tried  to  get  into  use  on  terms  satisfactory  to  myself 
and  friend.  For  this  purpose  I  endeavored  to  attract 
notice  to  it  by  working  with  it  in  tailor  shops,  and  ex- 
hibited it  to  all  who  desired  to  become  acquainted  with 
it.  After  my  patent  was  obtained,  my  friend  declined 
to  aid  me  further.  I  then  owed  him  about  two  thousand 
dollars,  and  I  was  also  in  debt  to  my  father,  to  whom  I 
conveyed  the  remaining  half  of  my  patent  for  two 
thousand  dollars.  Having  parted  with  my  whole  title, 
and  having  no  means  for  manufacturing  machines,  I  was 
much  embarrassed,  and  did  not  know  what  to  do. 

"My  brother,  Amasa  B.  Howe,  suggested  that  my  in- 
vention might  succeed  in  England,  when,  if  patented^  it 
would  be  wholly  under  my  control ;  and  x)n  my  behalf, 
with  means  borrowed  of  my  father,  my  brother  took  my 
third  machine  to  England,  to  do  the  best  he  could  with 
it.  He  succeeded  in  selling  my  machine  and  invention 
for  two  hundred  pounds  in  cash,  and  a  verbal  agreement 
that  the  purchaser  should  patent  my  invention  in  Great 
Britain,  in  his  own  name ;  and  if  it  should  prove  suc- 
cessful, to  pay  me  three  pounds  royalty  on  each  machine 
he  made  or  sold  under  the  patent.  He  also  agreed  to 
employ  me  in  adapting  my  machine  to  his  own  kind  of 
work  at  three  pounds  a  week  wages. 


448  HIDDEN   TEEASURES. 

"  The  purchaser  obtained  a  patent  for  my  machine  in 
England,  and  I  went  to  London  to  enter  his  employ- 
ment. I  then  made  several  machines  with  various  modi- 
fications and  improvements,  to  suit  his  peculiar  kind  of 
work,  and  they  were  put  to  immediate  use ;  but  after- 
wards we  ceased  to  be  friendly,  and  I  was  discharged 
from  his  employment.  In  the  meantime  my  wife  and 
three  children  had  joined  me  in  London.  I  had  also,  at 
the  suggestion  of  another  person,  endorsed  a  hundred 
pound  note,  on  which  I  was  afterwards  sued  and  arrested ; 
but  I  was  finally  released  on  taking  the  ^  poor  debtor's 
oath.'  By  small  loans  from  fellow  mechanics,  and  by 
pawning  a  few  articles,  I  managed  to  live  with  my  fam- 
ily in  London,  until,  from  friendly  representations  from 
some  American  acquaintances,  the  captain  of  an  Ameri- 
can packet  was  induced  to  take  my  wife  and  children 
home  to  the  United  States  on  credit.  I  was  then  alone,, 
and  extremely  poor,  in  a  foreign  land. 

My  invention  was  patented,  and  in  successful  use  in 
England,  but  without  any  profit  to  me,  and  wholly  out 
of  my  control.  In  the  spring  of  1849  I  was  indebted  to- 
a  Scottish  mechanic  for  a  steerage  passage,  and  I  re- 
turned to  the  United  States,  poorer,  if  possible,  than 
when  I  left.  On  my  return  I  found  my  wife  and  children 
very  destitute ;  all  other  personal  effects,  save  what  they 
had  on,  being  still  detained  to  secure  payment  for  their 
passage  home.  My  wife  was  sick,  and  died  within  ten 
days  after  my  arrival.  During  my  absence  in  England' 
a  considerable  number  of  sewing-machines  had  been 
made,  and  put  in  operation  in  different  parts  of  the 
United  States;  some  of  these  by  the  procurement  of  the 
friend  to  whom  I  had  sold  half  of  my  American  paten" 

but  most  of  them  infringements  on  my  patent. 

28 


GREAT  INVENTORS  AND  THEIR  INVENTIONS.  449 

"Having  obtained  from  my  father,  in  the  summer 
of  1849,  an  agreement  to  re-convey  to  me  his  half  of 
my  patent;  I  tried  to  induce  the  friend  who  held  the 
other  half  to  join  me  in  prosecuting  our  rights  against 
infringers,  but  he  declined  to  do  so.  After  failing  to 
make  any  satisfactory  settlement  with  the  infringers, 
who  well  knew  my  poverty  and  embarrassments,  I  filed 
a  bill  in  equity  against  one  of  such  persons,  and  made 
my  friend  a  party  defendant  also,  in  order  to  bring  him 
into  court  as  co-owner  of  my  machine.  After  this  he 
joined  me  in  a  suit  at  law  against  another  infringer.  In 
this  case  the  validity  of  my  patent  was  fully  established 
by  a  verdict  and  judgment  at  law.  After  several 
transfers  of  the  half  share  sold  my  friend,  I  purchased  it 
back,  about  five  years  ago,  and  I  am  now  sole  ov^ner  of 
ihe  American  patent.'^ 

Thus  did  Howe  modestly  tell  the  story  of  his  terrible 
trials  and  suffering.  After  long  litigation  Mr.  Howe's 
claim  to  have  been  the  original  inventor  was  legally  and 
irreversibly  established,  the  judge  deciding,  "that  there 
was  no  evidence  which  left  a  shadow  of  doubt  that  for 
all  the  benefit  conferred  upon  the  public  by  the  intro- 
duction of  the  sewing-machine  the  public  are  indebted 
to  Mr.  Howe."  Therefore  to  him  all  inventors  or  im- 
provers had  to  pay  a  royalty  on  each  machine  they 
made.  From  being  a  poor  man,  living  in  a  garret,  Howe 
became  one  of  the  most  noted  millionaires  in  America. 

Doubtless  many  of  our  readers  would  be  interested 
in  the  principles  involved  in  Mr.  Howe's  machine ;  which 
seem  to  be  essential  in  all  two-threaded  machines.  We 
find  that  two  threads  are  employed ,  one  of  which  is  carried 
through  the  cloth  by  means  of  a  curved  pointed  needle ; 
the  needle  used  has  the  eye  that  is  to  receive  the  thread. 


450  HIDDEN  TREASURES. 

about  an  eighth  of  an  inch  from  the  pointed  end.  When 
the  thread  is  carried  through  the  cloth,  which  may  be 
done  to  the  distance  of  about  three-fourths  of  an  inch 
the  thread  will  be  stretched  above  the  curved  needle, 
something  like  a  bowstring,  leaving  a  small  open  space 
between  the  two.  A  small  shuttle,  carrying  a  bobbin, 
filled  with  thread,  is  then  made  to  pass  entirely  through 
this  open  space,  between  the  needle  and  the  thread 
which  it  carries ;  and  when  the  shuttle  is  returned  the 
thread  which  was  carried  in  by  the  needle  is  surrounded 
by  that  received  from  the  shuttle ;  as  the  neeedle  is 
drawn  out,  it  forces  that  which  was  received  from  the 
shuttle  into  the  body  of  the  cloth  giving  the  seam  formed 
the  same  appearance  on  each  side  of  the  cloth. 

Thus,  according  to  this  arrangement,  a  stitch  is  made 
at  every  back  and  forth  movement  of  the  shuttle. 
The  two  thicknesses  of  cloth  that  are  to  be  sewed,  are 
held  upon  pointed  wires  which  project  out  from  a  metalic 
plate,  like  the  teeth  of  a  comb,  but  at  a  considerable 
distance  from  each  other,  these  pointed  wires  sustaining 
the  cloth,  and  answering  the  purpose  of  ordinary  bast- 
ing. The  metallic  plate,  from  which  these  wires  project, 
has  numerous  holes  through  it,  which  answer  the  pur- 
pose of  rack  teeth  in  enabling  the  plate  to  move  forward, 
by  means  of  a  pinion,  as  the  stitches  are  taken.  The 
distance  to  which  the  plate  is  moved,  and,  consequently, 
the  length  of  the  stitches  may  be  regulated  at  pleasure. 

He  opened  a  manufactory  for  his  machines  where  he 
could  carry  on  the  business  in  a  small  way.  From  this 
small  beginning  his  business  grew  until,  with  the 
royalties  he  received,  his  income  reached  $200,000  an- 
nually. Notwithstanding  his  wealth,  he  enlisted  in  the 
war  as  a  private,  and  his  principles  and  sympathy  were 


GREAT  INVENTORS  AND  THEIR  INVENTIONS.  451 

displayed  at  one  time  when,  seeing  the  men  needy,  the 
government  having  been  unable  to  pay  promptly,  he 
himself  advanced  enough  money  to  pay  the  entire  regi- 
ment. In  the  month  of  October,  1867,  at  the  early  age 
of  forty-eight  he  died. 

But  he  had  lived  long  enough  to  see  his  machine 
adopted  and  appreciated  as  one  of  the  greatest  labor- 
saving  devices  in  the  world.  It  is  estimated  that  to-day 
the  sewing-machine  saves  annually  the  enormous  sum 
of  $500,000,000.  It  has  been  truly  said  that  had  it  not 
been  for  the  sewing-machine  it  would  have  been  im- 
possible to  have  clothed  and  kept  clothed  the  vast  armies 
employed  on  both  sides  during  the  late  war.  Great, 
indeed,  is  a  world's  benefactor;  such  is  Elias  Howe. 


Isaac  M.  Singer. 


THE  greatest  competitor  of  Mr.  Howe  was  I.  M.  Singer. 
In  1850  there  appeared  in  a  shop  in  Boston,  a  man 
who  exhibited  a  carving  machine  as  his  invention. 

Mr.  Parton,  in  the  Atlantic  Monthly,  said :  "  Singer 
was  a  poor,  bajBBied  adventurer.  He  had  been  an  actor 
and  a  manager  of  a  theatre,  and  had  tried  his  hand  at 
various  enterprises,  none  of  which  had  been  successful." 
The  proprietor  of  the  shop,  who  had  some  sewing-ma- 
chines there  on  exhibition,  speaking  of  them,  said: 
^'These  machines  are  an  excellent  invention,  but  have 
some  serious  defects.    Now  if  you  could  make  the  de- 


452  HIDDEN    TREASURES. 

sired  improvement,  there  would  be  more  money  in  it 
than  in  making  these  carving  machines."  This  seemed 
to  gently  impress  Singer,  and  the  friend  advancing  $40^ 
he  at  once  began  work.  According  to  Singer's  testimony 
in  the  Howe  vs.  Singer  suits,  the  story  of  this  wonderful 
man  runs  something  like  this  : 

"  I  worked  day  and  night,  sleeping  but  three  or  four 
hours  out  of  the  twenty-four,  and  eating  generally  but 
once  a  day,  as  I  knew  I  must  get  a  machine  made  for 
forty  dollars  or  not  get  it  at  all.  The  machine  was  com- 
pleted the  night  of  the  eleventh  day  from  the  day  it  was 
commenced.  About  nine  o'clock  that  evening  we  got 
the  parts  of  the  machine  together,  and  commenced 
trying  it.  The  first  attempt  to  sew  was  unsuccessful, 
and  the  workmen,  who  were  tired  out  with  almost  unre- 
mitting work,  left  me,  one  by  one,  intimating  that  it  was 
a  failure.  I  continued  trying  the  machine,  with  Zieber, 
who  furnished  the  forty  dollars,  to  hold  the  lamp  for  me; 
but  in  the  nervous  condition  to  which  I  had  been  re- 
duced, by  incessant  work  and  anxiety,  was  unsuccessful 
in  getting  the  machine  to  sew  light  stitches. 

"About  midnight  I  started  with  Zieber  to  the  hotel, 
where  I  boarded.  Upon  the  way  we  sat  down  on  a  pile 
of  boards,  and  Zieber  asked  me  if  I  had  not  noticed  that 
the  loose  loops  of  thread  on  the  upper  side  of  the  cloth 
came  from  the  needle?  It  then  flashed  upon  me  that  I 
had  forgotten  to  adjust  the  tension  upon  the  needle 
thread.  Zieber  and  I  went  back  to  the  shop.  I  adjusted 
the  tension,  tried  the  machine,  and  sewed  five  stitches 
perfectly,  when  the  thread  broke.  The  perfection  of 
those  stitches  satisfied  me  that  the  machine  was  a  suc- 
cess, and  I  stopped  work,  went  to  the  hotel,  and  had  a 
sound  sleep.    By  three  o'clock  the  next  day  I  had  the 


GREAT  INVENTORS  AND  THEIR  INVENTIONS.  453 

macliine  finished,  and  started  with  it  to  IN'ew  York,  where 
I  employed  Mr.  Charles  M.  Keller  to  get  out  a  patent 
for  it." 

The  trial  resulted  in  favor  of  Howe,  but  of  the  two 
men  Singer  was  in  every  way  the  superior  in  business 
capacity.  In  fact,  there  never  has  been  a  sewing- 
machine  manufacturer  that  could  compare  with  I.  M. 
Singer.  "  Great  and  manifold  were  the  difficulties  which 
arose  in  his  path,  but  one  by  one  he  overcame  them  all. 
He  advertised,  he  traveled,  he  sent  out  agents,  he  pro- 
cured the  insertion  of  articles  in  newspapers,  he  exhibited 
the  machines  at  fairs  in  town  or  country.  Several  times 
he  was  on  the  point  of  failure,  but  in  the  nick  of  time 
something  always  happened  to  save  him,  and  year  after 
year  he  advanced  toward  an  assured  success. 

"We  well  remember  his  early  efforts,  when  he  only 
had  the  back  part  of  a  small  store  on  Broadway,  and  a 
little  shop  over  a  railroad  depot;  and  we  remember  also 
the  general  incredulity  with  regard  to  the  value  of  the 
machine  with  which  his  name  was  identified.  Even 
after  hearing  him  explain  it  at  great  length,  we  were 
very  far  from  expecting  to  see  him  one  day  riding  to  the 
Central  Park  in  a  French  diligence,  drawn  by  five  horses 
paid  for  by  the  sewing-machine.  Still  less  did  we  antici- 
pate that  within  twelve  years  the  Singer  company  would 
be  selling  a  thousand  sewing-machines  a  week,  at  a 
profit  of  a  thousand  dollars  a  day.  He  was  the  true 
pioneer  of  the  mere  business  of  selling  machines,  and 
made  it  easier  for  all  his  subsequent  competitors." 

The  peculiarity  of  the  Singer  machine  is  the  chain 
stitch  or  single  thread  device,  but  with  the  employment 
of  an  eye-pointed  needle,  and  other  appliances,  so  as  to 
make  it  admirably  adopted  for  the  general  purposes  of 


454  HIDDEN    TREASURES. 

sewing.    At  Mr.  Singer's  death  it  was  found  that  his 
estate  amounted  to  about  $19,000,000. 


Richard  M.  Hoe, 


rriHE  recent  death  of  Richard  March  Hoe,  in  Florence^ 
X  Italy,  closes  the  career  of  one  whose  name  is  known 
wherever  the  newspaper  is  used  to  spread  intelligence. 
He  was  the  senior  member  of  the  firm  of  printing- 
press  makers,  and  one  of  the  leading  inventors  and  de- 
velopers of  that  great  lever  of  public  opinion.  Mr.  Hoe's 
father  was  the  founder  of  the  firm.  He  came  to  this 
country  from  England  in  1803,  and  worked  ab  his  trade 
of  carpentry.  Through  his  skill  as  a  workman  he  was 
sought  out  by  a  man  named  Smith,  a  maker  of  printer's 
material.  He  married  Smith's  sister,  and  went  into  part- 
nership with  Smith  and  brother.  The  printing-presses 
of  those  days  were  made  chiefly  of  wood,  and  Hoe's  skill 
as  a  wood-worker  was  valuable  to  the  firm. 

In  1822  Peter  Smith  invented  a  hand-press.  This 
press  was  finally  supplanted  by  the  Washington  press, 
invented  by  Samuel  Rust  in  1829.  Mr.  Smith  died  a 
year  after  securing  his  patent,  and  the  firm-name  was 
changed  to  R.  Hoe  &  Co.,  but  from  the  manufacture  of 
the  Smith  press  the  company  made  a  fortune.  The  de- 
mand for  hand  presses  increased  so  rapidly  that  ten  years 
later  it  was  suggested  that  steam  power  might  be  util- 
ized  in  some  way  to  do  the  pulling  and  tugging  neces- 


GREAT  INVENTORS  AND  THEIR  INVENTIONS.  455 

sary  in  getting  an  impression.  At  this  time  Richard  M., 
one  of  the  sons  of  the  founder  of  the  house,  was  an  at- 
tentive listener  to  the  discussions.  ^ 

Young  Richard  M.  Hoe  was  born  in  1812.  He  had 
the  advantage  of  an  excellent  education,  but  his  father's 
business  possessed  such  a  fascination  for  him  that  it  was 
with  difficulty  he  was  kept  in  school.  He  was  a  young 
man  of  twenty  before  his  father  allowed  him  to  work 
regularly  in  his  shop ;  but  he  had  already  become  an 
expert  in  handling  tools,  and  soon  became  one  of  the 
best  workmen.  He  joined  with  his  father  in  the  belief 
that  steam  would  yet  be  applied  to  the  printing-press, 
and  the  numerous  models  and  experiments  they  made  to 
that  end  would,  in  the  light  of  the  present  day,  appear 
extremely  ridiculous. 

In  1825-30  Napier  had  constructed  a  steam  printing- 
press,  and  in  1830  Isaac  Adams,  of  Boston,  secured  a 
patent  for  a  power  press.  These  inventions  were  kept 
very  secret ;  the  factories  in  which  they  were  made  being 
guarded  jealously.  In  1830  a  Napier  press  was  imported 
into  this  country  for  use  on  the  Natio7ial  Intelligencer. 
Mordecai  Noah,  editor  of  Noah's  Simdaij  Times  and  Mes- 
senger, was  collector  of  the  port  of  New  York  at  that 
time,  and  being  desirous  of  seeing  how  the  Napier  press 
would  work,  sent  for  Mr.  Hoe  to  put  it  up.  He  and  Rich- 
ard succeeded  in  setting  up  the  press,  and  worked  it 
successfully. 

The  success  of  Napier's  press  set  the  Hoes  to  think- 
ing. They  made  models  of  its  peculiar  parts  and  studied 
them  carefully.  Then,  in  pursuance  of  a  plan  suggested 
by  Richard,  his  father  sent  his  partner,  Mr.  Newton,  to 
England,  for  the  purpose  of  examining  new  machinery 
there,  and  to  secure  models  for  future  use.    On  his  return 


456  HIDDEN   TREASURES. 

with  ideas,  Mr.  Newton  and  the  Hoes  projected  and 
turned  out  for  sale  a  novel  two-cylinder  press,  which 
became  universally  popular  and  soon  superseded  all 
others,  the  Napier  included. 

Thus  was  steam  at  last  harnessed  to  the  press,  but 
the  demand  of  the  daily  papers  for  their  increasing 
editions  spurred  the  press  makers  to  devise  machines 
that  could  be  worked  at  higher  speed  than  was  found 
possible  with  the  presses,  in  which  the  type  was  secured 
to  a  flat  bed,  which  was  moved  backward  and  forward 
under  a  revolving  cylinder.  It  was  seen,  then,  that  if 
type  could  be  secured  to  the  surface  of  a  cylinder,  great 
speed  could  be  attained.  In  Sir  Rowland  Hill's  device 
the  type  was  cast  wedge-shape ;  that  is,  narrower  at  the 
bottom.  A  broad  ''nick"  was  cut  into  its  side,  into  which 
a  "lead"  fitted.  The  ends  of  the  "lead"  in  turn  fitted 
into  a  slot  in  the  column  rules,  and  these  latter  were 
bolted  into  the  cylinder.  The  inventor.  Sir  Rowland 
Hill,  the  father  of  penny  postage  in  England,  sunk,  it  is 
said,  £80,000  in  the  endeavor  to  introduce  this  method. 

In  the  meantime  Richard  M.  had  succeeded  to  his 
father's  business,  and  was  giving  his  attention  largely 
to  solving  this  problem  of  holding  type  on  a  revolving 
cylinder.  It  was  not  until  1846  that  he  hit  on  the 
method  of  doing  it.  After  a  dozen  years  of  thought  the 
idea  came  upon  him  unexpectedly,  and  was  startling  in 
its  simplicity.  It  was  to  make  the  column  rules  wedge- 
shape  instead  of  the  type.  It  was  this  simple  device,  by 
the  introduction  of  the '^lightning  press,"  that  revolution- 
ized the  newspaper  business  of  the  world,  and  made  the 
press  the  power  it  is.  It  brought  Hoe  fame  and  put  him 
at  the  head  of  press  makers.  His  business  grew  to  such 
dimensions  that  he  has  in  his  employ  in  his  New  York 


GREAT  INVENTORS  AND  THEIR  INVENTIONS.  457 

factory  from  800  to  1,500  hands,  varying  with  the  state 
of  trade.  His  London  factory  employes  from  150  to  250 
hands. 

Yet  the  great  daily  cravings  demanded  still  faster 
presses.  The  result  was  the  development  of  the  Web 
press,  in  which  the  paper  is  drawn  into  the  press  from  a 
continuous  roll,  at  a  speed  of  twelve  miles  an  hour.  The 
very  latest  is  a  machine  called  the  supplement  press, 
capable  of  printing  complete  a  paper  of  from  eight  to 
twelve  pages,  depending  on  the  demand  of  the  day,  so 
that  the  papers  slide  out  of  the  machine  with  the  sup- 
plements gummed  in  and  the  paper  folded  ready  for 
delivery.  Of  late  years  many  other  remarkably  ingen- 
ious presses  of  other  makers  have  come  into  the  market, 
but  still  the  genius  of  R.  M.  Hoe  has  left  an  indelible 
mark  in  the  development  of  the  printing-press.  He  died 
June  6th,  1886. 


Charles  Goodyear. 


ABOUT  the  year  1800  was  born  in  New  Haven,  Con- 
necticut. Charles  Goodyear.  He  received  only  a 
public  school  education,  and  when  twenty-one  years  of 
age  joined  his  father  in  the  hardware  trade  in  the  city 
of  Philadeiphia ;  but  in  the  financial  troubles  of  1830, 
the  firm  went  under,  and  the  next  three  years  was  spent 
in  looking  for  a  life-work. 

Passing  a  store  in  the  city  of  New  York,  his  eye  was 


458  HIDDEN   TREASURES. 

attracted  by  the  words  "India  Rubber  for  Sale."  Hav- 
ing heard  much  of  this  new  article  of  late,  he  purchased 
a  life-preserver  which  he  carried  home  and  so  materially 
improved,  in  conception,  that  he  was  induced  to  return 
to  the  store  for  the  purpose  of  explaining  his  ideas.  At 
the  store  he  was  now  told  of  the  great  discouragements 
with  which  the  rubber  trade  was  contending,  the  mer- 
chants giving  this  as  a  reason  for  not  taking  to  his  im- 
provement. The  rubber,  as  then  made,  would  become 
as  hard  as  flint  during  cold  weather,  and  if  exposed  to 
heat  would  melt  and  decay. 

Returning  to  Philadelphia,  Goodyear  commenced  ex- 
periments, trying  to  discover  the  secret  of  how  to  remedy 
this  trouble.  He  was  very  poor,  and  to  support  his  family 
he  '  cobbled '  for  his  neighbors.  He  tried  every  experi- 
ment within  his  grasp  of  intellect,  but  met  only  with 
failure.  His  friends,  who  had  helped  him,  left  him  one 
by  one ;  his  failures  continued,  but  he  would  not  give 
up.  The  last  piece  of  furniture  was  sold,  and  his  family 
moved  into  the  country,  taking  up  cheap  lodgings. 
Finally  he  found  a  druggist  who  agreed  to  furnish  him 
what  he  needed  from  his  store  to  use  in  his  investiga- 
tions and  purchasing  small  quantities  of  rubber  at  a 
time  he  contined  his  experiments.  At  length,  after  three 
years  he  discovered  that  the  adhesiveness  of  the  rubber 
could  be  obviated  by  dipping  it  in  a  preparation  of  nitric 
acid.  But  this  only  affected  the  exterior,  and  he  was 
once  more  plunged  into  the  worst  of  poverty."  It  was 
generally  agreed  that  the  man  who  would  proceed  fur- 
ther, in  a  cause  of  this  sort,  was  fairly  deserving  of  all 
the  distress  brought  on  himself,  and  justly  debarred  the 
sympathy  of  others.  "His  suffering  during  the  years 
that  followed  is  simply  incredible.  The  prejudice  against 


GREAT  INVENTORS  AND  THEIR  INVENTIONS.  459 

him  was  intense.  Everybody  characterized  him  as  a  fool, 
and  no  one  would  help  him.  A  witness  afterwards  testified 
in  a. trial :  "  They  had  sickness  in  the  family ;  I  was  often 
in  and  found  them  very  poor  and  destitute,  for  both  food 
and  fuel.  They  had  none,  nor  had  they  anything  to  buy 
any  with.  This  was  before  they  boarded  with  us,  and 
while  they  were  keeping  house.  They  told  me  they  had 
no  money  with  which  to  buy  bread  from  one  day  to 
another.  They  did  not  know  how  they  should  get  it. 
The  children  said  they  did  not  know  what  they  should 
do  for  food.  They  dug  their  potatoes  before  they  were 
half-grown,  for  the  sake  of  having  something  to  eat. 
Their  son  Charles,  eight  years  old,  used  to  say  that  they 
ought  to  be  thankful  for  the  potatoes,  for  they  did 
not  know  what  they  should  do  without  them.  We 
used  to  furnish  them  with  milk,  and  they  wished  us  to 
take  furniture  and  bed-clothes  in  payment,  rather  than 
not  pay  for  it.  At  one  time  they  had  nothing  to  eat,  and 
a  barrel  of  flour  was  unexpectedly  sent  them." 

It  is  a  record  of  destitution,  imprisonment  for  debt, 
and  suffering  from  this  time  until  1841,  when  he  began 
to  see  day-light.  By  accident  he  one  day  allowed  a 
piece  of  rubber  to  drop  on  the  stove,  when,  lo !  he  had 
found  the  secret,  heat  was  the  thing  needed.  Six  years 
had  he  struggled  on  through  untold  hardships,  and  now 
he  seemed  crowned  with  success.  He  had  found  the 
desired  solution  of  the  problem,  but  he  made  a  fatal 
mistake  here.  Instead  of  settling  down  and  manufac- 
turing his  discovery,  which  would  have  brought  him  a 
fortune,  he  sold  rights  and  kept  on  experimenting.  By 
certain  legal  informalities  he  secured  no  benefit  what- 
ever from  his  patent  in  France  and  he  was  cheated  en- 
tirely out  of  it  in  England.     Although  he  lived  to  see 


460  HIDDEN    TREASURES. 

large  factories  for  its  manufacture  spring  up  in  both 
America  and  Europe,  employing  60,000  operatives,  still 
he  died  in  1860  at  the  age  of  seventy-one,  leaving  his 
family  unprovided  for.  The  cause  was  not  lack  of  per- 
severance nor  energy,  but  the  sole  cause  was  lack  of 
judgment  in  business  matters. 

The  vulcanized  rubber  trade  is  one  of  the  greatest 
industries  of  the  vi^orld  to-day,  amounting  to  millions  of 
dollars  annually.  The  usefulness  of  India  rubber  is  thus 
described  in  the  North  American  Beview:  ''Some  of  our 
readers  have  been  out  on  the  picket-line  during  the  war. 
They  know  what  it  is  to  stand  motionless  in  a  wet  and 
miry  rifle-pit  in  the  chilly  rain  of  a  southern  winter's 
night.  Protected  by  India  rubber  boots,  blanket  and  cap, 
the  picket-man  is  in  comparative  comfort;  a  duty  which, 
without  that  protection,  would  make  him  a  cowering 
and  shivering  wretch,  and  plant  in  his  bones  a  latent 
rheumatism,  to  be  the  torment  of  his  old  age.  Good- 
year's  India  rubber  enables  him  to  come  in  from  his  pit 
as  dry  as  when  he  went  into  it,  and  he  comes  in  to  lie 
down  with  an  India  rubber  blanket  between  him  and  the 
damp  earth.  If  he  is  wounded  it  is  an  India-rubber 
stretcher  or  an  ambulance,  provided  with  India-rubber 
springs,  that  gives  him  least  pain  on  his  v/ay  to  the  hos- 
]oital,  where,  if  his  wound  is  serious,  a  water-bed  of  India 
rubber  gives  ease  to  his  mangled  frame,  and  enables  him 
to  endure  the  wearing  tedium  of  an  unchanged  posture. 
Bandages  and  supporters  of  India  rublier  avail  him  much 
when  first  he  begins  to  hobble  about  his  ward.  A  piece  of 
India  rubber  at  the  end  of  his  crutch  lessens  the  jar  and 
the  noise  of  his  motions,  and  a  cushion  of  India  rubber 
is  comfortable  to  his  arm-pit.  The  springs  which  close 
the  hospital  door,  the  bands  which  excludes  the  drafts 


GREAT  INVENTORS  AND  THEIR  INVENTIONS.  461 

from  doors  and  windows,  his  pocket-comb  and  cup  and 
thimble  are  of  the  same  material.  From  jars  hermetic- 
ally closed  with  India  rubber  he  receives  the  fresh  fruit 
that  is  so  exquisitely  delicious  to  a  fevered  mouth.  The 
instrument  case  of  his  surgeon,  and  the  store-room  of 
his  matron  contains  many  articles  whose  utility  is  in- 
creased by  the  use  of  it,  and  some  that  could  be  made 
of  nothing  else.  In  a  small  rubber  case  the  physician 
carries  with  him  and  preserves  his  lunar  caustic,  which 
would  corrode  any  metallic  surface.  His  shirts  and 
sheets  pass  through  an  India  rubber  clothes-wringer, 
which  saves  the  strength  of  the  washer-woman  and  the 
fibre  of  the  fabric.  Yv^hen  the  government  presents  him 
with  an  artificial  leg,  a  thick  heel  and  elastic  sole  of 
India  rubber  give  him  comfort  e^^ery  time  he  puts  it  on 
the  ground.  In  the  field  this  material  is  not  less  strik- 
ingly useful.  During  the  late  war  armies  have  marched 
through  ten  days  of  rain  and  slept  through  as  many 
nights,  and  come  out  dry  into  the  returning  sunshine 
with  their  artillery  untarnished  and  their  ammunition 
not  injured,  because  men  and  munitions  were  all  under 
India  rubber." 

Ought  we  soon  to  forget  him  to  whom  we  are  in- 
debted, in  a  large  measure,  for  all  this?  The  American 
people  will  long  remember  Charles  Goodyear  when  others 
have  faded  from  memory. 


462  HIDDEN  TREASURES. 


Prof.  S  F,  B.  Morse. 


'  ^  /^ ANST  thou  send  lightnings  that  they  may  go  and 
[Q  say  unto  thee :  Here  we  are ! "  Said  the  Lord  from 
the  whirlwind  to  afflicted  Job,  who  remained  dumb  for 
he  could  not  answer.  The  question  has  been  answered 
in  the  affirmative  in  our  day  by  the  perfector  of  the 
electro-magnetic  telegraph,  the  late  Professor  Morse,  bj 
whose  invention  the  promise  has  been  fulfilled :  "  I'll 
put  a  girdle  around  the  globe  in  forty  minutes." 

Samuel  Finly  Breese  Morse  was  born  in  Charleston. 
Massachusetts,  April  27th,  1791.  His  father  was  the  first 
person  to  publish  geographies  in  America.  His  father 
was  also  a  celebrated  Congregational  minister,  spending 
much  of  his  time  in  religious  controversy,  in  maintaining 
the  orthodox  faith  throughout  the  New  England  churches 
and  against  Unitarianism.  He  was  prominent  among 
those  who  founded  Andover  Theological  Seminary,  and 
published  many  religious  periodicals. 

S.  F.  B.  Morse  was  a  graduate  from  Yale  at  the  age  of 
nineteen,  and  soon  went  to  England  for  the  purpose  of 
studying  painting.  At  the  end  of  two  years  he  received 
the  gold  medal  of  the  Adelphia  Society  of  Arts  for  an 
original  model  of  a  ''  Dying  Hercules, "  his  first  attempt 
at  sculpture.  The  following  year  he  exhibited  "The 
Judgment  of  Jupiter,"  a  painting  praised  by  his  teacher, 
Mr.  West.  Becoming  quite  proficient  in  painting  and 
sculpture,  he  returned  home  in  1815,  following  his  pro- 
fession in  Boston,  Charleston,  South  Carolina,  and  later 
in  New  York  city.    At  the  latter  place,  in  connection 


GREAT   INVENTORS   AND   THEIR   INVENTIONS.  463 

* 

with  other  artists,  he  organized  a  drawing  association, 
which  resulted  in  the  establishment  of  the  National 
Academy  of  Design.  Prof.  Morse  was  chosen  its  first 
President,  and  was  continued  in  that  office  for  the  follow- 
ing sixteen  years.  He  painted  a  great  many  portraits, 
among  which  was  a  full  length  portrait  of  Lafayette, 
which  was  highly  prized  and  commended  by  the  Asso- 
ciation. In  1829  he  visited  Europe  a  second  time  to 
complete  his  studies  in  art  reading  for  more  than  three 
years  in  the  principal  cities  of  the  continent.  During 
his  absence  abroad  he  was  elected  Professor  of  the  liter- 
ature of  the  Arts  of  Design  in  the  University  of  New 
York ;  and  in  1835  he  delivered  a  course  of  lectures  be- 
fore that  school  on  the  affinity  of  those  arts. 

While  in  college  Mr.  Morse  had  paid  special  atten- 
tion to  chemistry  and  natural  philosophy;  but  his  love 
of  art  seemed  to  be  the  stronger;  later,  however,  these 
sciences  became  a  dominant  pursuit  with  him.  As  far 
back  as  1826-'7,  he  and  Prof.  J.  Freeman  Dana  had  been 
colleague  lecturers  at  the  Anthenaeum  in  the  City  of  New 
York,  the  former  lecturing  on  the  fine  arts,  and  the 
latter  upon  electro-magnetism.  They  were  intimate 
friends,  and  in  their  conversation  the  subject  of  electro- 
magnetism  was  made  familiar  to  the  mind  of  Morse. 
The  electro-magnet  on  Sturgeon's  principle — the  first  ever 
shown  in  the  United  States — was  exhibited  and  ex- 
plained in  Dana's  lectures,  and  at  a  later  date,  by  gift  of 
Prof.  Torrey,  came  into  Morse's  possession.  Dana  even 
then  suggested,  by  his  spiral  volute  coil,  the  electro- 
magnet of  the  present  day;  this  was  the  magnet  in  use 
when  Morse  returned  from  Europe,  and  it  is  now  used 
in  every  Morse  telegraph  throughout  both  hemispheres. 

On  his  second  return  to  the  United  States  he  em- 


464  HIDDEN    TREASURES. 

barked  from  Havre  on  the  packet  ship  Sully,  in  the 
autumn  of  1832  and  in  a  casual  conversation  with  some 
of  the  passengers  on  the  then  recent  discovery  in  France 
of  the  means  of  obtaining  the  electric  spark  from  the 
magnet,  showing  the  identity  or  relation  of  electricity 
and  magnetism,  Morse's  mind  conceived,  not  merely  the 
idea  of  an  electric  telegraph,  but  of  an  electro-magnetic 
and  chemical  recording  telegraph;  substantially  and 
essentially  as  it  now  exists.  The  testimony  to  the  pa- 
ternity of  the  idea  in  Morse's  mind,  and  to  his  acts  and 
drawings  on  board  the  ship  is  ample.  His  own  testi- 
mony was  corroborated  by  all  the  passengers  with  a 
single  exception,  Thomas  Jackson,  who  claimed  to  have 
originated  the  idea  and  imparted  the  same  to  Morse, 
However,  there  is  little  controversy  in  regard  to  this 
matter  at  the  present  day  as  the  courts  decided  irrevoc- 
ably in  favor  of  Morse.  The  year  1832  is  fixed  as  the 
date  of  Morse's  conception  and  realization,  also,  so  far 
as  drawings  could  embody  the  conception  of  the  tele- 
graph system,  which  now  bears  his  name.  A  part  of  the 
apparatus  was  constructed  in  New  York  before  the  close 
of  the  first  year,  but  circumstances  prevented  its  com- 
pletion before  1835,  when  he  put  up  a-half  mile  of  wire 
in  coil  around  a  room  and  exhibited  the  telegraph  in 
operation.  Two  years  latei  he  exhibited  the  operation  of 
his  system  before  the  University  of  New  York. 

From  the  greater  publicity  of  this  exhibition  the  date 
of  Morse's  invention  has  erroneously  been  fixed  in  the 
autumn  of  1837,  whereas  he  operated  successfully  with 
the  first  single  instrument  in  November,  1835.  In  1837 
he  filed  his  caveat  in  the  Patent  Office  in  Washington, 
and  asked  Congress  for  aid  to  build  an  experimental  line 
from  that  city  to  Baltimore.  The  House  Committee  on 
.  29 


GREAT  INVENTORS  AND  THEIR  INVENTIONS.  465 

Commerce  gave  a  favorable  report,  but  the  session  closed 
without  action,  and  Morse  went  to  Europe  in  the  hope 
of  interesting  foreign  governments  in  his  invention. 
The  result  was  a  refusal  to  grant  him  letters  patent  in 
England,  and  the  obtaining  of  a  useless  hrevet  dHnvention 
in  France,  and  no  exclusive  privileges  in  any  other  coun- 
try. He  returned  home  to  struggle  again  with  scanty 
means  for  four  years,  during  which  he  continued  his 
appeals  at  Washington.  His  hope  had  expired  on  the 
last  evening  of  the  session  of  1842-3 ;  but  in  the  morn- 
ing, March  4th,  he  was  startled  with  the  announcement 
that  the  desired  aid  of  Congress  had  been  obtained  in 
the  midnight  hour  of  the  expiring  session,  and  $30,000 
placed  at  his  disposal  for  his  experimental  essay  be- 
tween Washington  and  Baltimore.  In  1844  the  work 
was  completed,  and  demonstrated  to  the  world  the  prac- 
ticability and  the  utility  of  the  Morse  system  of  electro- 
magnetic telegraphing.  Violations  of  his  patents  and 
assumption  of  his  rights  by  rival  companies  involved  him 
in  a  long  series  of  law  suits ;  but  these  were  eventually 
decided  in  his  favor,  and  he  reaped  the  benefits  to  which 
his  invention  entitled  him. 

It  is  doubtful  if  any  American  ever  before  received 
so  many  marks  of  distinction.  In  1846  Yale  College 
conferred  on  him  the  degree  of  LL.D.;  in  1848  he  re- 
ceived the  decoration  of  the  Nishan  Iftikur  in  diamonds 
from  the  Sultan  of  Turkey;  gold  medals  of  scientific 
merit  were  awarded  him  by  the  king  of  Prussia;  the 
king  of  Wurtemberg,  and  the  Emperor  of  Austria.  In 
1856  he  received  from  the  Emperor  of  the  French  the 
cross  of  Chevalier  of  the  Legion  of  Honor ;  in  1857  from 
the  King  of  Denmark  the  cross  of  Knight  Commander 
of  the  First  Class  of  the  Danebrog;  in  1858  from  the 


466  HIDDEN    TREASURES. 

Queen  of  Spain  the  cross  of  Knight  Commander  of  the 
Order  of  Isabella  the  Catholic ;  from  the  king  of  Italy 
the  cross  of  the  Order  of  SS.  Maurice  and  Lazarus,  and 
from  the  king  of  Portugal  the  cross  of  the  Order  of  the 
Tower  and  Sword.  In  1856  the  telegraph  companies  of 
Great  Britain  gave  him  a  banquet  in  London ;  and  in 
Paris,  in  1858,  another  banquet  was  given  him  by  Ameri- 
cans numbering  more  than  100,  and  representing  almost 
every  State  in  the  Union.  In  the  latter  year,  at  the 
instance  of  Napoleon  III,  representatives  of  France, 
Russia,  Sweden,  Belgium,  Holland,  Austria,  Sardinia, 
Tuscany,  the  Holy  See,  and  Turkey  met  in  Paris  to  de- 
cide upon  a  collective  testimonial  to  him,  and  the  result 
was  a  vote  of  400,000  francs  as  a  personal  reward  for 
his  labors.  On  December  29th,  1868,  the  citizens  of  New 
York  gave  him  a  public  dinner.  In  June,  1871,  a  bronze 
statue  of  him,  erected  by  the  voluntary  contributions  of 
telegraph  employees,  was  formally  unveiled  in  Central 
Park,  New  York,  by  William  Cullen  Bryant,  and  in  the 
evening  a  reception  was  held  in  the  Academy  of  Music, 
at  which  Prof.  Morse  telegraphed,  by  means  of  one  of 
the  instruments  used  on  the  original  line  between  New 
York  and  Washington,  a  message  of  greeting  to  all  the 
cities  of  the  continent. 

The  last  public  service  which  he  performed  was 
the  unveiling  of  the  statue  of  Franklin  in  Printing 
House  Square,  New  York,  on  January  17th,  1872.  Sub- 
marine telegraphy  also  originated  with  Prof.  Morse,  who 
laid  the  first  sub-marine  lines,  in  New  York  harbor  in 
1842,  and  received  at  the  time  from  the  American  Insti- 
tute a  gold  medal.  He  died  in  the  city  of  New  York 
April  2nd,  1872,  While  in  Paris  in  1839  he  made  the  ac- 
quaintance of  Daguerre,  and  from  drawings  furnishe(} 


GREAT  INVENTORS  AND  THEIR  INVENTIONS.  467 

him  by  the  latter,  he  constructed,  on  his  return,  the  first 
daguerreotype  apparatus,  and  took  the  first  sun  pictures 
ever  taken  in  America.  He  was  also  an  author  and 
poet  of  some  standing. 


Cyrus  W.  Field. 


THERE  are  few  people  living  who  have  not  heard  of 
Cjrrus  W.  Field.  Few  people,  however,  have  taken 
the  trouble  to  learn  more  of  him  other  than  the  fact 
that  to  him  are  we  indebted  for  the  Atlantic  Cable,  and 
THIS  information  has  been  forced  upon  them. 

One  often  hears  the  old  saying,  "blood  tells,"  and 
when  we  review  the  Field  family  we  are  constrained  to 
admit  its  truth.  David  Dudly  Field,  Sr.,  the  father,  was 
a  noted  Divine.  He  had  a  family  of  seven  sons,  the  old- 
est of  which,  David  Dudly,  Jr.,  is  a  most  conspicuous 
lawyer.  Stephen  Johnson,  has  held  some  of  the  most 
exalted  positions  as  a  jurist  within  the  gift  of  the  nation 
and  his  adopted  State,  California.  Henry  Martyn,  is  a 
renowned  editor  and  Doctor  of  Divinity.  Matthew  D.  is 
an  expert  engineer,  and  in  this  capacity  did  much  to  aid 
the  success  of  the  cable  which  has  made  famous  for  all 
time  the  subject  of  this  narrative.  Matthew  is  also  a 
somewhat  noted  and  successful  politician.  Another 
brother,  Timothy,  entered  the  navy,  and  we  doubt  not 
would  have  become  equally  distinguished  but  for  his 
untimely  death.  Cyrus  West,  was  born  at  Stockbridge^ 
Massachusetts,  November  30th,  1819.    Unlike  the  Apple- 


468^  HIDDEN   TREASURES. 

tons,  Harpers  and  numerous  other  noted  families,  the 
Fields  seemed  to  discard  the  idea  ''in  union  is  there 
strength,"'  each  selecting  his  own  calling,  to  become 
individually  singled  out  and  honored. 

As  heretofore  shown,  almost  the  entire  Field  family 
have  made  history,  but  upon  Cyrus  does  the  world  be- 
stow the  greatest  distinction.  He  was  the  only  brother 
choosing  a  mercantile  life,  and  at  the  age  of  fifteen, 
nearly  sixteen,  he  was  apprenticed  to  the  great  A.  T. 
Stewart.  After  his  apprenticeship  he  returned  to  Massa- 
chusetts  and  started  a  small  paper-mill,  and  still  later 
came  to  New  York  again,  this  time  to  open  a  paper  ware- 
house, but  for  some  reason  failed.  One  feature  of  the 
great  success  which  has  attended  Mr.  Field  was  his  stick- 
to-it-iveness  which  enabled  him  to  'fight  it  out  on  that 
line  if  it  took  all  summer.'  He  accordingly  compromised 
the  matter  with  his  creditors,  re-established  the  business, 
profited  by  his  past  mistakes,  and  in  the  course  of  eleven 
or  twelve  years  had  amassed  an  ample  fortune.  Accord- 
ingly, about  1853,  he  decided  to  retire,  and  spent  six 
months  traveling  in  South  America,  not,  however,  until 
he  had  enclosed  a  check  to  each  of  his  old  creditors, 
thereby  discharging  a  moral  obligation,  although  not 
legally  bound. 

In  the  meantime,  a  Mr.  Gibson  had  enlisted  the  sym- 
pathy of  his  brother  Matthew,  the  engineer,  in  a  trans- 
atlantic  telegraph  company,  which  was  to  be  carried  on 
by  a  co-operation  of  the  telegraph,  and  a  system  of  fast 
ocean  steamers.  Although  adverse  to  all  thought  of  re- 
suming any  business  this  brother  obtained  for  Mr.  Gib- 
son an  audience,  and  he  presented  to  Mr.  Field  his  scheme 
which  involved  a  telegraphic  communication  between 
New  York  and  St.  John ;  hence,  by  fast  ocean  steamers^ 


GREAT  INVENTORS  AND  THEIR  INVENTIONS.  469 

Mr.  Gibson  left  without  gaining  his  object,  but  upon  re- 
flection Mr.  Field  suddenly  exclaimed :  "Why  not  run  a 
wire  through  the  ocean  itself,  instead  of  ending  it  at 
St.  John  ? "  Although  it  is  claimed  that  Field  had  never 
heard  of  such  an  idea,  yet  it  did  not  originate  with  him. 
In  fact,  a  cable  was  then  in  operation  between  Dover 
and  Calais,  connecting  England  and  France.  Having 
become  imbued  with  this  plan  he  at  once  consulted  his 
brother  David  as  to  what  legal  obstacles  might  possibly 
arise,  and  being  satisfied  on  that  score,  he  set  about  the 
accomplishment  of  his  purpose. 

He  saw  Peter  Cooper  and  several  other  moneyed  men 
and  solicited  their  aid,  forming  a  company,  with  Peter 
Cooper  as  president.  Matthew  was  now  interested  as 
chief  engineer,  and  David  as  counsel.  These  will  be 
remembered  as  two  of  the  famous  brothers.  The  bur- 
den of  the  work,  however,  fell  upon  our  hero,  He  seemed 
to  be  everywhere.  First  in  New  Foundland,  where  he 
bought  the  rights  of  a  rival  company  then  before  the 
Provincial  Government,  where  his  influence  secured  the 
consent  of  the  legislature  of  Newfoudland.  Then  he  is 
over  in  England,  where  he  is  successful  in  not  only  se- 
curing the  necessary  rights  and  privileges  to  occupy 
British  territory,  but  the  special  favor  of  the  Queen  and 
the  capital  stock  of  about  $1,680,000,  which  it  was  hoped 
could  be  placed  in  England,  was  taken  in  a  few  weeks, 
and  not  only  this  but  the  British  government  agreed  to 
pay  an  annual  subsidy  of  about  $68,000,  for  the  use  of 
the  cable  by  that  government  and  ships,  not  only  for 
surveying  but  to  help  lay  the  cable. 

Mr.  Field  now  ordered  the  cable  made,  and  again  set 
sail  for  America,  and  is  soon  at  the  national  capitol  try- 
ing to  enlist  the  sympathy  and  aid  of  our  country.    The 


470  HIDDEN  TREASURES, 

lobby  and  other  influences  seemed  to  be  against  him, 
and  he  met  with  the  cold  shoulder  at  every  turn,  but 
nothing  dismayed  this  man.  At  last  the  bill  passed 
the  Senate  by  the  majority  of  but  one  vote,  and  in  the 
Lower  House  by  an  absolutely  small  majority,  but  after 
a  hard  fight  it  became  a  fixed  thing,  and  received  the 
signature  of  President  Buchanan. 

Reader,  look  back  upon  the  trials  of  Cyrus  Field  as 
you  have  followed  them  thus  far;  imagine  if  you  can  the 
trouble,  vexation  and  disappointments  which  have  thus 
far  attended  him,  and  when  you  think  that  he  had  all  this 
trouble  to  get  permission  to  lay  the  cable,  and  that  while 
he  had  already  passed  through  much;  yet  his  disappoint- 
ments were  destined  to  be  tenfold  greater  ere  success 
attended  him;  will  you  say  he  is  undeserving  of  that 
success?  The  rights  are  secure;  the  stock  taken;  the 
cable  is  done  and  all  seems  fair  sailing. 

The  Agamemnon  of  the  Royal  Mary  and  the  Niagara, 
furnished  by  the  United  States  government,  started  with 
their  precious  burden.  The  paying  out  machine  kept  up 
its  steady  revolutions.  Slowly,  but  surely,  the  cable 
slips  over  the  side  and  into  the  briny  deep.  Many  emi- 
nent men  were  eagerly  watching  with  Mr.  Field  on  the 
Niagara ;  a  gradual  solemnity  took  possession  of  the 
entire  ship's  company.  Who  would  not  be  interested  ? 
Who  would  not  feel  the  powerful  pressure  of  responsi- 
bility, and  when  at  last  the  too  sudden  application  of  a 
break  parted  the  cable,  and  it  wholly  disappeared  from 
view,  the  shock  was  too  much  for  the  stoutest  nerves. 
All  appeared  to  feel  that  a  dear  friend  had  just  slipped 
the  cable  of  life,  and  had  gone  to  make  his  grave  beneath 
the  deep  waters. 

But  of  all  that  sad  company,  Mr.  Field  is  the  least 


GREAT  INVENTORS  AND  THEIR  INVENTIONS.  471 

dismayed.  He  recognized  that  a  most  expensive  and 
disastrous  accident  had  happened;  but  the  belief  v/as 
firmly  fixed  in  his  mind  that  the  plan  was  practicable. 
He  was  now  offered  the  position  of  General  Manager,  at 
a  salary  of  $5,000  per  year.  The  position  he  accepted, 
but  declined  the  salary. 

In  1858  the  second  attempt  was  begun,  but  when 
about  two  hundred  miles  had  been  laid,  the  cable  parted, 
and  the  result  of  months  of  labor  and  large  capital  was 
remorsefully  swallowed  up  by  the  mighty  deep.  But 
while  all  seemed  ready  to  give  up,  Cyrus  Field  seemed 
to  be  everywhere.  His  activity  seemed  to  exceed  the 
bounds  of  human  endurance.  Many  were  the  successive 
twenty-four  hours  in  which  he  had  no  sleep,  and  his 
friends  were  alarmed  lest  he  and  the  new  enterprise 
should  break  together. 

By  his  assiduousness  the  work  was  recommenced  this 
same  year,  and  on  the  5th  of  August,  1858,  was  com- 
pleted. Messages  were  exchanged  between  Queen  Vic- 
toria and  President  Buchanan,  and  for  about  a  month 
the  cable  worked  perfectly,  amid  great  rejoicing,  wheoi 
all  at  once  it  stopped;  the  cable  refused  to  respond. 
Few  thought  the  project  would  be  prosecuted  further, 
but  they  miscalculated  the  power  of  endurance,  the 
possession  of  which  has  brought  the  success  of  that  man 
whom  they  now  envy,  "because  fortune  has  smiled  upon 
him  more  especially  than  them." 

How  often  do  we  find  ourselves  wishing  we  were  as 
rich  as  some  person,  or  as  influential  as  another ;  when 
we  have  but  to  follow  their  example,  do  as  they  have 
done,  endure  what  they  have  endured  to  acquire  the 
coveted  success. 

If  we  would  stop  to  consider  that  seventy-three  per 


472  HIDDEN   TREASURES. 

cent,  of  our  great  men  were  poor  boys,  we  would  readily 
see  that  those  we  now  envy  are  only  enjoying  the  fruit 
of  their  own  toil. 

The  civil  war  broke  out  and  all  work  was  suspended, 
but  in  1863  a  new  cable  was  ordered  of  Gloss,  Elliot  & 
Company  in  London,  axid  a  capital  of  $3,000,000  was 
raised  by  the  indomitable  energy  of  Mr.  Field.  The 
Great  Eastern  was  employed  to  lay  it,  and  on  the  23rd 
day  of  July,  1865,  that  leviathan  of  the  deep,  started  on 
her  momentous  journey,  successfully  traversing  about 
three-fourths  of  the  entire  distance,  when  the  cable  once 
more  parted,  carrying  with  it  to  the  bottom  of  the  ocean 
every  fond  hope  cherished  by  so  many.  But  once  more 
arose  Cyrus  West  Field,  and  an  entirely  new  company  is 
formed,  and  $3,000,000  more  is  raised.  On  Friday,  July 
13th,  1866,  the  Great  Eastern  once  more  starts,  and  on 
Friday,  the  27th  of  July,  the  following  cablegram  is  re- 
ceived. 

''Hearts  Content,  July  27th. 

*  We  arrived  here  at  nine  o'clock  this  morning.  All  well,  thank 
God,     The  Cable  is  laid,  and  is  in  perfect  working  order. 

' '  Signed,  Cyrus  W.  Field." 

To  make  the  victory  more  complete,  the  Great  Eastern 
again  put  to  sea,  raised  the  cable  which  was  lost  the 
preceding  year,  spliced  it,  and  the  two  have  since  been 
in  constant  use. 

Who  dares  deny  that  Cyrus  W.  Field  is  not  deserving 
of  enduring  fame  ?  For  thirteen  years  he  had  borne  the 
brunt  of  all  the  ridicule  and  sneers  directed  at  this 
greatest  enterprise  of  modern  history.  He  has  been 
bitterly  denounced  by  many  as  a  capitalist,  a  monopo- 
list, and  the  like  ;  but  if  the  world  has  been  benefited 
so  many  millions  by  the  Ocean  Telegraph,  it  seems  to  us 
that  the  best  is  inadequate  as  a  reward  to  its  proprietor. 


GREAT  INVENTORS  AND  THEIR  INVENTIONS.  473 


George  M.  Pullman. 


THE  subject  of  this  sketch  we  consider  one  of  the 
greatest  of  philanthropists.  He  is  a  modest  man, 
and  for  this  reason  disclaimed  all  desire  to  be  known  as 
a  benefactor.  But  we  cannot  now  think  of  any  one  who 
is  more  clearly  identified  with  the  great  effort  which  is 
going  on  for  the  benefit  of  mankind. 

He  is  a  native  of  the  grand  old  empire  State,  being 
born  in  the  western  part  of  New  York,  March  3rd,  1831. 
His  father  was  a  mechanic  of  some  note,  but  died  before 
George  was  of  age,  leaving  him  to  help  support  his 
mother  and  younger  brothers. 

He  worked  for  a  time  in  a  furniture  establishment, 
but  this  kind  of  employment  did  not  satisfy  his  active 
nature,  and  he  went  to  Chicago,  where  his  enterprise 
could  have  sea  room.  He  at  first  became  identified  with 
the  work  of  raising  and  placing  new  foundations  under 
several  large  buildings  of  that  city.  He  helped  raise  a 
whole  block  several  feet  high,  an  enterprise  which  was 
accomplished  without  hardly  a  break,  discontinuing 
none  of  the  business  firms  who  occupied  the  buiding, 
their  business  being  carried  on  uninterrupted. 

George  M.  Pullman  had  a  perceptive  mind — so  have 
all  truly  successful  men.  He  perceived  that  while  the 
railway  coaches  were  far  superior  to  the  old  stages,  yet 
they  were  far  inferior  to  what  he  imagined  they  ought 
to  be.  He  at  once  applied  to  the  Chicago  and  Alton 
railway  management  and  laid  his  plan  before  them. 


474  HIDDEN    TREASURES. 

They  furnished  him  with  two  old  coaches,  with  which 
to  experiment.  These  he  fitted  up  with  bunks,  and 
while  they  were  not  to  be  compared  with  the  elegant 
palaces  which  he  has  since  constructed,  still  one  could 
lie  down  and  sleep  all  night,  which  was  so  far  in  advance 
of  anything  the  people  had  seen,  that  they  were  very 
highly  appreciated. 

He  now  went  to  Colorado,  and  engaged  in  various 
mining  schemes,  but  here  he  was  out  of  his  sphere,  and 
after  a  three  years'  sojourn,  returned  to  Chicago.  His 
active  imagination  had  thought  out  many  improvements 
on  the  cars  he  had  previously  constructed  ;  and  he  had 
also  secured  capital  with  which  to  carry  out  his  ideas. 
Fitting  up  a  shop  on  the  Chicago  and  Alton  road,  he 
constructed  two  coaches,  at  the  then  fabulous  cost  of 
$18,000  each.  The  management  of  the  various  western 
roads  looked  upon  snch  enterprise  as  visionary.  George 
M.  Pullman,  however,  cared  but  little  about  their  opinion. 

The  Union  and  Pacific  was  then  exciting  much  at- 
tention. He  knew  that  on  the  completion  of  such  a 
road,  travelers  would  appreciate  a  car  in  which  they 
could  enjoy  the  comforts  of  home  for  the  entire  tedious 
trip.  To  say  that  his  hopes  were  fully  realized,  would 
be  inadequate.  So  popular  did  they  become,  that  his 
shops  at  Chicago  could  not  begin  to  fill  the  demands 
made  upon  it  for  his  parlor,  dining,  and  sleeping  cars. 
Branches  were  started  at  Detroit,  St.  Louis,  Philadelphia, 
and  various  places  in  Europe. 

These  establishments,  of  necessity,  could  not  come 
under  his  immediate  supervision  he,  therefore,  conceived 
the  idea  of  concentrating  his  business  into  one  vast 
establishment,  and  gathered  about  him  a  force  of  skilled 
workmen.     He  looked  upon  Chicago  and  its  locality  as 


GREAT  INVENTORS  AND  THEIR  INVENTIONS.  475 

the  coming  center  of  population  in  the  United  States ; 
but  a  site  in  that  city  would  be  far  too  expensive,  if 
indeed  one  could  have  been  found  rjafficient  for  his 
purpose.  About  twelve  to  fifteen  miles  from  Chicago 
was  a  swamp :  it  was  considered  worthless,  but  it  was 
as  easy  for  this  natural  mechanic  to  conceive  the  idea 
of  draining  this  tract  of  land,  as  it  was  to  conceive 
methods  to  raise  buildings.  A  very  large  force  of  men 
were  put  to  work  draining ;  gas-pipes  were  laid ;  streets 
were  laid  out  and  graded,  and  an  architect  employed  to 
draw  the  plans  for  the  building  of  a  whole  city  at  once. 
Gigantic  work-shops  were  built,  and  a  water  supply 
brought  from  Lake  Michigan,  miles  away.  Besides  all 
this,  over  fourteen  hundred  beautiful  homes  were  built 
before  any  man  was  asked  to  come  to  Pullman  to  enter 
the  shops.  A  bank  was  opened,  a  library,  containing 
thousands  of  volumes,  was  provided;  all  these  things 
were  brought  about  by  Mr.  Pullman.  He  has  expended 
several  million  of  dollars  in  beautifying  and  providing 
for  the  comfort  and  pleasure  of  his  employees.  The 
buildings  are  not  mushroom  affairs,  but  substantial  brick 
edifices  which  give  this  place  an  appearance  which 
will  compare  favorably  with  any  city.  He  built  a  fine 
hotel,  and  erected  a  beautiful  church,  placing  a  rich 
toned  organ  in  it,  which  alone  cost  $3,500.  Every  honest 
tradesman  can  come  to  Pullman.  None  but  liquor  dealers 
or  men  who  desire  to  keep  low  groggeries  are  excluded. 
No  property  is  sold,  but  if  a  party  desires  to  live  there 
he  applies  to  the  Superintendent,  and  a  lease  is  given, 
which  can  be  cancelled  by  either  party  at  ten  days' 
notice.  Nothing  but  liquor  is  forbidden.  A  man  can 
squander  his  time,  can  gamble,  possibly,  but  he  cannot 
obtain  drink ;  the  result  is,  there  are  no  policemen.  No 


476  HIDDEN  TREASURES. 

visible  form  of  government,  save  Mr.  Pullman,  and  yet 
this  is  a  city  of  nearly  eight  thousand  people.  The 
people  are  not  muddled  with  drink  ;  they  are  promptly 
paid;  their  'personal' rights  are  not  interfered  with, 
save  in  respect  to  the  selling  of  liquor ;  they  are  con- 
tented and  happy.  Mr.  Pullman  has  been  largely  iden- 
tified with  the  Metropolitan  Railway  and  the  Eagleton 
Wire  Works  in  New  York  city.  But  the  name  of  Pull- 
man is  dentin ed  to  long  remain  a  synonym  of  philan- 
thropy. He  has  practically  demonstrated  the  benefit  of 
legislation  against  the  sale  of  intoxicating  liquors  as  a 
beverage.  He  claims  to  have  done  this  as  a  business 
policy,  and  disclaims  all  honor  as  a  philanthropist.  We 
answer,  would  that  we  had  more  men  who  would  follow 
this  kind  of  a  business  policy. 


Thomas  A,  Edison. 


ON  February  11th,  1845, was  born  at  Milan,  Ohio,Thomas 
A.  Edison,  now  a  little  over  42  years  of  age,  and  to- 
day enjoying  a  reputation  as  an  inventor  that  is  without 
a  parallel  in  history. 

At  eight  or  nine  years  of  age  he  began  to  earn  his 
own  living,  selling  papers.  When  twelve  years  old  his 
enterprise,  pushed  by  ambition,  secured  him  a  position 
as  newsboy  on  the  Grand  Trunk  Railroad.  Here  his 
inventive  genius  manifested  itself.  A^rranging  with  sta- 
tion agents  along  the  line,  he  caused  the  headings  of 


GREAT  INVENTORS  AND  THEIR  INVENTIONS.  477 

news  to  be  telegraphed  ahead,  the  agents  posting  the 
same  in  some  conspicuous  place.  By  this  means  the 
profits  of  his  business  were  greatly  augmented.  He  next 
fitted  up  a  small  printing  press  in  one  corner  of  a  car, 
and  when  not  busy  in  his  regular  work  as  newsboy,  suc- 
cessfully published  a  small  paper.  The  subject-matter 
was  contributed  by  employes  on  the  road,  and  young 
Edison  was  the  proprietor,  editor,  publisher  and  selling 
agent.  He  also  carried  on  electrical  experiments  in  one 
corner  of  the  car. 

Finally,  he  entered  one  of  the  offices  on  the  ro  ad,  and 
here  he  learned  the  art  of  telegraphy.  The  ne;xt  few 
years  he  was  engaged  as  an  operator  in  several  of  the 
largest  cities  throughout  the  Union,  such  as  Cincin  nati. 
Indianapolis,  Louisville,  Boston,  New  York,  Memphis, 
and  Port  Huron.  He  not  only  became  one  of  the  most 
expert  operators  in  the  country,  but  his  office  was  a 
labratory  for  electrical  experiment.  All  day  long  he 
attended  to  the  duties  of  his  office,  and  at  night  one 
would  find  him  busy  at  experiments  tending  toward  the 
development  of  the  use  of  the  telegraph. 

Hard  work  and  frequent  wanderings  at  last  found 
him  developing  his  ideas  in  Boston.  He  brought  out 
duplex  telegraphy  and  suggested  a  printing  telegraph  for 
the  use  of  gold  and  stock  quotations.  His  ability  becom- 
ing so  apparent  he  was  retained  by  wealthy  men  in  New 
York  at  a  high  salary.  In  1876  he  removed  to  Menlo 
Park,  New  Jersey,  where  he  fitted  up  an  extensive  labra- 
tory for  the  prosecution  and  development  of  his  en- 
terprise. 

Here  he  has  won  his  world-wide  fame,  keeping  two 
continents  in  a  fevered  state  of  expectancy.  Indeed, 
some  of  his  inventions  have  been  so  wonderful  that  he 


478  HIDDEN   TREASURES. 

might  be  accredited  with  supernatural  powers.  By  im- 
provement he  brought  the  telephone  of  Gray,  Bell,  etc., 
from  a  mere  toy  to  an  instrument  of  great  commercial 
worth.  Ten  years  ago  hardly  a  telephone  was  in  use; 
now  the  business  of  our  country  would  hardly  know  how 
to  do  without  it.  Of  all  modern  inventions  connected 
with  the  transmission  of  electrical  sound  the  telephone 
has  excited,  perhaps,  the  most  interest.  An  instrument 
which  not  only  transmits  intelligible  signals  great  dis- 
tances, but  also  the  tones  of  the  voice,  so  that  the  voice 
shall  be  as  certainly  recognized  when  heard  hundreds  of 
miles  away  as  if  the  owner  was  speaking  in  the  same 
room.  No  great  skill  is  required  of  the  operator,  and  if 
a  business  man  desires  to  speak  with  another  person  he 
has  but  to  step  to  an  instrument  in  his  own  office,  ring 
a  bell,  and  thus,  through  a  central  office,  connect  himself 
with  the  instrument  of  the  desired  party,  when  a  con- 
versation can  take  place. 

In  its  mechanism  the  telephone  consists  of  a  steel 
cylindrical  magnet,  perhaps  five  inches  long  and  one- 
half  of  an  inch  thick,  encircled  at  one  end  by  a  short 
bobbin  of  ebonite,  on  which  is  wound  a  quantity  of  fine 
insulated  copper  wire.  The  two  ends  of  the  coil  are 
soldered  to  thicker  pieces  of  copper  wire  which  traverse 
the  wooden  envelop  from  end  to  end,  and  terminate  in 
the  screws  of  its  extremity.  Immediately  in  front  is  a 
thin  circular  plate  of  iron;  this  is  kept  in  place  by  being 
jammed  between  the  main  portion  of  the  wooden  case 
and  the  cap,  which  carries  the  mouth  or  ear  trumpet, 
which  are  screwed  together.  Such  is  the  instrument  in- 
vented by  Bell  and  Edison. 

The  means  to  produce  light  by  electricity  next  oc- 
cupied his  attention,  and  the  Edison-Electric  Light  was 


GREAT  INVENTORS  AND  THEIR  INVENTIONS.  479 

the  result.  The  electric  current  for  this  light  is  gener- 
ated by  means  of  large  magneto-electric  machines,  which 
are  driven  by  some  motive  power.  It  is  the  only  light 
known  to  science  which  can  be  compared  to  the  rays  of 
the  sun.  Especially  is  this  light  useful  in  lighthouses, 
on  board  ships  and  for  lighting  streets  in  cities.  It  is, 
however,  used  in  factories,  workshops,  large  halls,  etc., 
and  in  the  very  near  future  will  doubtless  become  a  light 
in  private  dwellings. 

But,  possibly,  the  most  wonderful  invention  which 
has  been  the  result  of  the  inventive  conception  of  Mr. 
Edison  is  the  phonograph,  a  simple  apparatus  consisting 
in  its  original  mechanism  of  a  simple  cylinder  of  hollow 
brass,  mounted  upon  a  shaft,  at  one  end  of  which  is  a 
crank  for  turning  it,  and  at  the  other  a  balance-wheel, 
the  whole  being  supported  by  two  iron  uprights.  There 
is  a  mouth-piece,  as  in  the  telephone,  which  has  a  vibrat- 
ing membrane  similar  to  the  drum  of  a  person's  ear.  To 
the  other  side  of  this  membrane  there  is  a  light  metal 
point  or  stylus,  which  touches  the  tin-foil  which  is  placed 
around  the  cylinder.  The  operator  turns  the  crank, 
at  the  same  time  talking  into  the  mouth-piece ;  the 
membrane  vibrates  under  the  impulses  of  the  voice,  and 
the  stylus  marks  the  tin-foil  in  a  manner  to  correspond 
with  the  vibrations  of  the  membrane.  When  the  speak- 
ing is  finished  the  machine  is  set  back  to  where  it  started 
on  the  tin-foil,  and  by  once  more  turning  the  crank  pre- 
cisely the  same  vibrations  are  repeated  by  the  machines. 
These  vibrations  effect  the  air,  and  this  again  the  ear, 
and  the  listener  hears  the  same  words  come  forth  that 
were  talked  into  the  instrument.  The  tin-foil  can  be 
removed,  and,  if  uninjured,  the  sounds  can  be  reproduced 
at  any  future  date 


480  HIDDEN   TREASURES. 

Different  languages  can  be  reproduced  at  once,  and 
the  instrument  can  be  made  to  talk  and  sing  at  once 
without  confusion.  Indeed,  so  wonderful  is  this  piece  of 
mechanism,  that  one  must  see  it  to  be  convinced.  Evca 
the  tone  of  voice  is  retained ;  and  it  will  sneeze,  whis- 
tie,  echo,  cough,  sing,  etc.,  etc. 

Improvements  are  in  progress,  notably  among  which 
is  an  apparatus  to  impel  it  by  clock  work  instead  of  a 
crank.  The  phonograph  as  yet  has  never  come  into 
extended  use,  but  its  utility  is  obvious  when  its  mechan- 
ism is  complete ;  business  men  can  use  it  for  dictating 
purposes,  as  it  is  possille  to  put  forty  thousand  words  on 
a  tin-foil  sheet  ten  inches  square. 

The  invention  of  any  one  of  the  foregoing  must  have 
made  for  Mr.  Edison  a  world-wide  fame,  but  when  it  is 
remembered  that  he  has  already  taken  out  over  two 
hundred  patents,  one  realizes  something  of  the  fertility 
of  his  imagination.  Many  other  inventions  are  worthy 
of  note,  which  have  originated  at  the  Menlo  Park  labra- 
tory,  but  space  forbids,  although  it  is  safe  to  predict, 
that  more  startling  inventions  may  yet  be  in  store  for 
an  expectant  world. 


~^^~ 


so 


in 

H 
I 
CD 

O 

X 

I- 
cn 

ID 

o 


■:•  wp  gepE  gaCCEED 


?w— • 


1  i^  U/I?il^  Otlj^rs  Fail. 


SUCCESS  AND  FAILDRE, 


YOUNG  man,  two  ways  are  open  before  you  in  life. 
One  points  to  degradation  and  want,  the  ot]ier,to 
usefulness  and  wealth.  In  the  old  Grecian  races  one  only, 
by  any  possible  means,  could  gain  the  prize,  but  in  the 
momentous  race  of  human  life  there  is  no  limiting  of 
the  prize  to  one.  No  one  is  debarred  from  competing  ; 
all  may  succeed,  provided  the  right  methods  are  followed. 
Life  is  not  a  lottery.  Its  prizes  are  not  distributed  by 
chance. 

There  can  hardly  be  a  greater  folly,  not  to  say  pre- 
sumption, than  that  of  so  many  young  men  and  women 
who,  on  setting  out  in  life,  conclude  that  it  is  no  use  to 
mark  out  for  themselves  a  course,  and  then  set  them- 
selves with  strenuous  effort  to  attain  some  worthy  end  * 
who  conclude,  therefore,  to  commit  themselves  blindly 
to  the  current  of  circumstances.  Is  it  anything  surprising 
that  those  who  aim  at  nothing,  accomplish  nothing  in  life? 
481 


482  HIDDEN    TREASURES. 

ISTo  better  result  could  reasonably  be  expected.    Twenty 
clerks  in  a  store ;  twenty  apprentices  in  a  ship-yard ;  ! 
twenty  young  men  in  a  city  or  village — all  want  to  get 
on  in  the  world  ;  most  of  them  expect  to  succeed.    One  ' 
of  the  clerks  will  become  a  partner,  and  make  a  fortune; 
one  of  the  young  men  will  find  his  calling  and  succeed 
But  what  of  the  other  nineteen  ?  They  will  fail ;  and 
miserably  fail,  some  of  them.     They  expect  to  succeed, 
but  they  aim  at  nothing ;  content  to  live  for  the  day 
only,  consequently,  little  effort  is  put  forth,  and  they 
reap  a  reward  accordingly. 

Luck  !    There  is  no  luck  about  it.     The  thing   is 
almost  as  certain  as  the  "rule  of  three."    The  young 
man  who  will  distance  his  competitors  is  he  who  will 
master  his  business ;  who  lives  within  his  income,  saving 
his  spare  money;  who  preserves  his  reputation;  who 
devotes  his  leisure  hours  to  the  acquisition  of  knowl- 
edge ;  and  who  cultivates  a  pleasing  manner,  thus  gain- 
ing friends.    We  hear  a  great  deal  about  luck.    If  a  man 
succeeds  finely  in  business,  he  is  said  to  have  "good  luck." 
He  may  have  labored  for  years  with  this  one  object  in 
view,  bending  every  energy  to  attain  it.    He  may  have 
denied  himself  many  things,  and  his  seemingly  sudden 
success  may  be  the  result  of  years  of  hard  work,  but  the 
world  looks  in  and  says  :    "He  is  lucky."    Another  man 
plunges  into  some  hot-house  scheme  and  loses :     "He  is 
unlucky."    Another  man's  nose  is  perpetually  on  the 
grind-stone ;  he  also  has  "bad  luck."     No  matter  if  he 
follows  inclination  rather  than  judgment,  if  he  fails,  as 
he  might  know  he  would  did  he  but  exercise  one-half 
the  judgment  he  does  possess,  yet  he  is  never  willing  to 
ascribe  the  failure  to  himself — he  invariably  ascribes 
it  to  bad  luck,  or  blames  some  one  else. 


WHY  SOME  SUCCEED  WHILE  OTHERS  FAIL.  483 

Luck !  There  is  no  such  factor  in  the  race  for 
success.  Rufus  Choate  once  said,  "  There  is  little  in  the 
theory  of  luck  which  will  bring  man  success;  but  work, 
guided  by  thought,  will  remove  mountains  or  tunnel 
them."  Carlyle  said,  ^'Man  know  thy  work,  then  do  it." 
How  often  do  we  see  the  sign:  "Gentlemen  will  not ; 
OTHERS  MUST  NOT  loaf  in  this  room."  True,  gentlemen 
never  loaf,  but  labor.  Fire-flies  shine  only  in  motion. 
It  is  only  the  active  who  will  be  singled  out  to  hold  re- 
sponsible positions.  The  fact  that  their  ability  is  mani- 
fest is  no  sign  that  they  are  lucky. 

Thiers,  of  France,  was  once  complimented  thus:  "It 
is  marvelous,  Mr.  President,  how  you  deliver  long  im- 
provised speeches  about  which  you  have  not  had  time 
to  reflect."  His  reply  was:  "You  are  not  paying  me  a 
compliment;  it  is  criminal  in  a  statesman  to  improvise 
speeches  on  public  affairs.  Those  speeches  I  have  been 
fifty  years  preparing."  Daniel  Webster's  notable  reply 
to  Hayne  was  the  result  of  years  of  study  on  the  problem 
of  State  Rights.  Professor  Mowry  once  told  the  follow- 
ing story:  "A  few  years  ago  a  young  man  went  into  a 
cotton  factory  and  spent  a  year  in  the  card  room.  He 
then  devoted  another  year  to  learning  how  to  spin;  still 
another  how  to  weave.  He  boarded  with  a  weaver,  and 
was  often  asking  questions.  Of  course  he  picked  up  all 
kinds  of  knowledge.  He  was  educating  himself  in  a 
good  school,  and  was  destined  to  graduate  high  in  his 
class.  He  became  superintendent  of  a  small  mill  at 
$1,500  a  year.  One  of  the  large  mills  in  Fall  River  was 
running  behind  hand.  Instead  of  making  money  the 
corporation  was  losing.  They  needed  a  first-class  man 
to  manage  the  mill,  and  applied  to  a  gentleman  in 
Boston  well  acquainted  with  the  leading  men  engaged 


484  HIDDEN   TREASURES. 

in  the  manufacture  of  cotton.  He  told  them  he  knew 
of  a  young  man  who  would  suit  them,  but  they  would 
have  to  pay  him  a  large  salary. 

''What  salary  will  he  require?"  "I  cannot  tell,  but  I 
think  you  will  have  to  pay  him  $6,000  a  year."  ''That 
is  a  large  sum  ;  we  have  never  paid  so  much."  "No, 
probably  not,  and  you  have  never  had  a  competent  man. 
The  condition  of  your  mill  and  the  story  you  have  told 
me  to-day  show  the  result.  I  do  not  think  he  would  go 
for  less,  but  I  will  advise  him  to  accept  if  you  offer  him 
that  salary."  The  salary  was  offered,  the  man  accepted, 
and  he  saved  nearly  forty  per  cent,  of  the  cost  of  making 
the  goods  the  first  year.  Soon  he  had  a  call  from  one  of 
the  largest  corporations  in  New  England,  at  a  salary  of 
$10,000  per  year.  He  had  been  with  this  company  but 
one  year  when  he  was  offered  another  place  at  $15,000 
per  year.  Now  some  will  say:  "Well,  he  was  lucky,  this 
gentleman  was  a  friend  who  helped  him  to  a  fat  iDlace." 

My  dear  reader,  with  such  we  ha\  e  little  patience.  It  is 
evident  that  this  young  man  was  determined  to  succeed 
from  the  first.  He  mastered  his  business,  taking  time 
and  going  thorough.  When  once  the  business  was  mas- 
tered his  light  began  to  shine.  Possibly  the  gentleman 
helped  him  to  a  higher  salary  than  he  might  have  ac- 
cepted, but  it  is  also  evident  that  his  ability  was  mani- 
fest. The  gentleman  knew  vv^hereof  he  spoke.  The  old 
proverb  that  "Circumstances  make  men"  is  simply  a  wolf 
in  wool.  Whether  a  man  is  conditioned  high  or  low  ;  in 
the  city  or  on  the  farm :  "If  he  will ;  he  will."  "They 
can  who  think  they  can."  "Wishes  fail  but  wills  pre- 
vail." "Labor  is  luck."  It  is  better  to  make  our  de- 
scendants proud  of  us  than  to  be  proud  of  our  ancestry. 
There  is  hardly  a  conceivable  obstacle  to  success  that 


WHY  SOME  SUCCEED  WHILE  OTHERS  FAIL.  485 

some  of  our  successful  men  have  not  overcome :  "What 
man  has  done, man  can  do."  "Strong  men  have  wills  ; 
weak  ones, wishes." 

In  the  contest,  wills  prevail.  Some  writers  would 
make  men  sticks  carried  whither  the  tide  takes  them. 
We  have  seen  that  biography  vetoes  this  theory.  Will 
makes  circumstances  instead  of  being  ruled  by  them. 
Alexander  Stephens,  with  a  dwarf's  body,  did  a  giant's 
work.  With  a  broken  scythe  in  the  race  he  over-matched 
those  with  fine  mowing-machines.  Will-power,  directed 
by  a  mind  that  was  often  replenished,  accomplished  the 
desired  result. 

Any  one  can  drift.  It  takes  pluck  to  stem  an  un- 
favorable current.  A  man  fails  and  lays  it  to  circum- 
stances. The  fact  too  frequently  is  that  he  swallowed 
luxuries  beyond  his  means.  A  gentleman  asked  a  child 
who  made  him.  The  answer  was:  '^God  made  me  so 
long — measuring  the  length  of  a  baby — and  I  growed 
the  rest."  The  mistake  of  the  little  deist  in  leaving  out 
the  God  of  his  growth  illustrates  a  conviction :  We  are 
what  we  make  ourselves. 

Garfield  once  said:  "If  the  power  to  do  hard  work 
is  not  talent  it  is  the  best  possible  substitute  for  it." 
Things  don't  turn  up  in  this  world  until  some  one  turns 
them  up.  A  pound  of  pluck  is  worth  a  ton  of  luck. 
Luck  is  a  false  light;  you  may  follow  it  to  rnin,  but 
never  to  success.  If  a  man  has  ability  which  is  re-in- 
forced  by  energy,  the  fact  is  manifest,  and  he  will  not 
lack  opportunities.  The  fortunes  of  mankind  depend  so 
much  upon  themselves,  that  it  is  entirely  legitimate  to 
enquire  by  what  means  each  may  make  or  mar  his  own 
happiness;  may  achieve  success  or  bring  upon  himself 
the  sufferings  of  failure. 


486  HIDDEN   TREASURES. 


Concentration  of  Effort. 


THE  man  who  has  no  occupation,  is  in  a  sad  plight: 
The  man  who  lacks  concentration  of  effort  is  worse 
off.  In  a  recent  test  of  the  power  of  steel  plates,  designed 
for  ship  armor,  one  thousand  cannon  were  fired  at 
once  against  it,  but  without  avail.  A  large  cannon  was 
then  brought  out.  This  cannon  used  but  one-tenth  as 
much  powder  as  did  the  combined  force  of  the  others, 
yet,  it  was  found,  when  the  smoke  had  cleared  away, 
that  the  ball  had  pierced  the  plate.  Ten  times  the  pow- 
der needed  availed  naught,  because,  the  law  of  concen- 
tration was  disregarded. 

One  of  the  essential  requisites  to  success  is  concen- 
tration. Every  young  man,  therefore,  should  early  as- 
certain his  strong  faculties,  and  discern,  if  possible,  his 
especial  fitness  for  any  calling  which  he  may  choose.  A 
man  may  have  the  most  dazzlingtalents,but  if  his  energies 
are  scattered  he  will  accomplish  nothing.  Emerson  says : 
**A  man  is  like  a  bit  of  Labrador  spar,  which  has  no 
lustre  as  you  turn  it  in  your  hand,  until  you  come  to  a 
particular  angle;  then  it  shows  deep  and  beautiful  colors.'' 
There  is  no  adaptation  or  universal  applicability  in  man. 
Dryden  has  said : 

"What  the  child  admired, 
The  youth  endeavored,  and  the  man  acquired." 

Is  it  not  so  ?  Do  we  not  find  Michael  Angelo  neg- 
lecting school  to  copy  drawings  ?  Henry  Clay  learning 
pieces  to  recite  in  the  barn  or  corn  field  ?  Yet,  as  Goethe 
says:  "We  should  guard  against  a  talent  which  we  can- 


WHY  SOME  SUCCEED  WHILE  OTHERS  FAIL.  487 

not  hope  to  practice  in  perfection.  Improve  it  as  we 
may,  we  shall  always,  in  the  end,  when  the  merit  of  the 
master  has  become  apparent  to  us,  painfully  lament  the 
loss  of  time  and  strength  devoted  to  such  botching." 

T  he  man  who  would  know  one  thing  well,  must  have 
the  courage  to  be  ignorant  of  a  thousand  other  things, 
no  matter  how  attractive  they  may  be,  or  how  desirable 
it  may  seem  to  try  them.  P.  T.  Barnum,  the  veteran 
showman,  who  has  lost  several  fortunes  but  risen  above 
all,  paid  etery  dollar  of  his  indebtedness,  and  is  to-day 
a  millionaire,  says  in  his  lecture  on  'The  Art  of  Money 
Getting'  : 

"Be  a  whole  man  in  whatever  you  undertake.  This 
wholeness  is  just  what  distinguishes  the  shabby,  blunder- 
ing mechanic  from  the  splendid  workman.  In  earlier 
times,  when  our  country  was  new,  there  might  have 
been  a  chance  for  the  man  who  gave  only  one  corner  of 
his  brain  to  his  chosen  calling,  but  in  these  days  of  keen 
competition  it  demands  the  most  thorough  knowledge  of 
the  business,  and  the  most  earnest  application  to  bring 
success.  Stick  to  your  business,  and  you  maybe  sure  that 
your  business  will  stick  to  you.  It  is  this  directing  your 
whole  mind  and  energies  at  one  point,  that  brings 
success. 

The  first  thing  a  young  man  should  do  after  select- 
ing his  vocation  is  to  become  thoroughly  satisfied  with 
his  choice.  He  must  be  thoroughly  satisfied  or  he  is  de- 
feated at  the  start.  In  arriving  at  this  decision  he  must 
bear  in  mind  that  if  he  would  find  a  calling  in  which  all 
will  be  sunshine,  where  the  clouds  never  darken  the 
pathway,  he  must  look  in  some  other  world  for  that 
calling.    On  earth  there  are  no  such  callings  to  be  found. 

When  we  see  Spurgeon,  the  great  London  preacher, 


488  HIDDEN    TREASURES. 

swaying  the  multitudes,  we  possibly  do  not  remember 
the  time  when,  as  a  poor  boy  of  but  eighteen,  he  begins 
preaching  on  the  street  corners  to  a  shabby  crowd.  We 
would  possibly  be  willing  to  partake  of  the  fame 
that  he  may  now  enjoy,  but  might  object  to  the  pastoral 
visiting  he  is  obliged  to  do  each  week.  We  would  not 
object  to  the  fame  of  Webster,  of  Calhoun  or  of  Clay,  but 
we  might  think  it  tedious  to  work  night  after  night  to 
obtain  the  knowledge  which  brought  this  fame.  Ah ! 
how  many  of  us  would  "peter"  out  in  a  short  time? 
When  one  is  satisfied  with  his  calling  he  must  work  at 
it,  if  need  be.  day  and  night,  early  and  late,  in  season 
and  out  of  season,  never  deferring  for  a  single  hour  that 
which  can  now  be  done.  The  old  proverb,  "What  is 
worth  doing  at  all  is  worth  doint<  well,''  was  never  truer 
than  it  is  to-day. 

A  certain  class  are  clamoring  for  a  division  of  the 
national  wealth.  They  are  like  the  worthless  vagabond 
who  said  to  the  rich  man,  "I  have  discovered  that  there 
is  money  enough  in  the  world  for  all  of  us  if  it  was 
equally  divided ;  this  must  be  done,  and  we  shall  all  be 
happy  together."  "  But,"  replied  the  rich  man,  "  if  every- 
body was  like  you  it  would  be  spent  in  two  months,  and 
what  would  we  then  do?"  "Oh!  divide  again;  keep 
dividing,  of  course !"  And  yet  a  very  considerable  num- 
ber of  people  think  this  is  the  solution  of  the  labor  prob- 
lem. The  point  is,  we  must  distinguish  the  dividing  line 
between  the  rights  of  property  and  the  wrongs  of  oppres- 
Bion.  Either  extreme  is  fatal.  Education  is  surely  the 
'■solution  of  the  labor  question. 

Listen :  Our  country  is  the  freest,  the  grandest,  the 
best  governed  of  any  nation  on  earth :  yet  we  spend 
yearly  nine  hundred  million  dollars  for  drink,  and  only 


WHY  SOME  SUCCEED  WHILE  OTHERS  FAIL.  489 

eighty-five  million  for  education.  Thus,  while  one  dol- 
lar tends  to  education  and  wealth,  over  ten  dollars  is  used 
to  bring  ignorance,  degradation,  and  want.  Over  ten 
times  the  influence  for  evil  that  there  is  for  good.  Where 
is  the  remedy?  Let  Congress,  which  is  supposed  to  con- 
trol our  interests,  legislate  against  ignorance  and  for 
education.  Suppose  that  nine  hundred  millions  were 
yearly  used  to  educate  deserving  young  men  and  women 
in  colleges;  inaugurated  into  a  "fresh-air  fund"  for  the 
children  in  our  large  cities  who  have  never  been  under 
its  ennobling  influence,  but  who,  on  the  contrary,  have 
never  seen  aught  but  vice  and  degradation.  Nine  hun- 
dred millions  in  one  year.  Nine  thousand  millions  in 
ten  years.  How  many  thousands  of  young  men  could , 
go  through  college  if  aided  each,  $100  per  year.  If  it 
were  wholly  devoted  to  this  purpose  nine  million  young 
people  «;50uld  be  helped  through  college  in  four  years — in 
ten  years  there  would  be  eighteen  or  twenty  million  col- 
lege graduates  from  this  source  alone,  what  would  be  thd 
result. ' 

Suppose  again  that  the  money  was  devoted  to  build- 
ing tenement  houses  that  would  be  fit  for  human  beings 
to  live  in,  look  at  the  wonderful  good  that  could  be  done. 
I  am  not  desirous  of  giving  here  a  dry  temperance 
lecture;  but  the  object  of  this  work  is  to  aid  others  to 
success,  and  if  vice  and  drink  were  removed  there  would 
be  but  little  need  for  further  advice.  Ah  !  there  lies 
the  root  of  the  evil.  Strike  the  root,  pull  it  up  and 
trample  it  under  foot  until  it  is  dead.  Never  allow  it  to 
take  root  again,  and  you  can  reasonably  expect  to  be  at 
least  fairly  successful. 

This  chapter  is  on  "Concentration  of  Effort".  Possibly 
some  will  imagine  that  we  have  wandered;  not  at  all,  as 


490  HIDDEN   TREASURES. 

we  see  it.  The  abolition  of  these  vices  tends  toward 
concentration ;  bad  habits,  of  no  matter  what  nature 
lead  to  failure  and  tend  to  draw  the  attention  from  one's 
calling.  Then  let  the  young  man  who  would  succeed 
join  his  heart,  his  sympathies,  his  desires,  with  the  right; 
let  him  live  a  consistent  life;  let  him  lead  a  strictly 
temperate  life;  let  him  give  his  whole  influence  to 
temperance,  resting  assured  that  if  he  puts  his  purposes 
into  action  that  he  will  succeed  in  more  ways  than  one. 


Self-reliance. 


OF  all  the  elements  of  success,  none  is  more  essential 
than  self-reliance, — determination  to  be  one's  own 
helper,  and  not  to  look  to  others  for  support.  God  never 
intended  that  strong  independent  beings  should  be 
reared  by  clinging  to  others,  like  the  ivy  to  the  oak,  for 
support. 

"God  helps  those  who  help  themselves,"  and  how  true 
we  find  this  quaint  old  saying  to  be.  Every  youth  should 
feel  that  his  future  happiness  in  life  must  necessarily 
depend  upon  himself ;  the  exercise  of  his  own,  energies, 
rather  than  the  patronage  of  others.  A  man  is  in  a 
great  degree  the  arbiter  of  his  own  fortune.  We  are 
born  with  powers  and  faculties  capable  of  almost  any- 
thing, but  it  is  the  exercise  of  these  powers  and  faculties 
that  gives  us  ability  and  skill  in  anything.  The  greatest 
curse  that  can  befall  a  young  man  is  to  lean,  while  his 
character  is  forming,  upon  others  for  support. 


WHY  SOME  SUCCEED  WHILE  OTHERS  FAIL.  4'^^1 

James  A.  Garfield,  himself  one  of  the  greatest  ex- 
amples of  the  possibilities  in  our  glorious  Republic,  once 
said : — 

"The  man  who  dares  not  follow  his  own  independent 
judgment,  but  runs  perpetually  to  others  for  advice,  be- 
comes at  last  a  moral  weakling,  and  an  intellectual 
dwarf.  Such  a  man  has  not  self  within  him,  but  goes  as 
a  supplicant  to  others,  and  entreats,  one  after  another, 
to  lend  them  theirs.  He  is,  in  fact,  a  mere  element  of  a 
human  being,  and  is  carried  about  the  world  an  insignifi- 
cant cipher,  unless  he  by  chance  fastens  himself  to  some 
other  floating  elements,  with  which  he  may  form  a 
species  of  corporation  resembling  a  man."  The  best 
capital  with  which  a  young  man  can  start  in  life,  nine 
times  out  of  ten,  is  robust  health,  good  morals,  fair 
ability  and  an  iron  will,  strengthened  by  a  disposition 
to  work  at  some  honest  vocation. 

We  have  seen  in  the  preceding  pages  that  a  vast 
majority  of  our  great  men  started  life  with  these  quali- 
fications and  none  other.  The  greatest  heroes  in  battle,, 
the  greatest  orators,  ancient  or  modern,  were  sons  of, 
obscure  parents.  The  greatest  fortunes  ever  accumu-' 
lated  on  earth  were  the  fruit  of  great  exertion.  From 
Croesus  down  to  Astor  the  story  is  the  same.  The  oak 
that  stands  alone  to  contend  with  the  tempest^s  blast 
only  takes  deeper  root  and  stands  the  firmer  for  ensuing 
conflicts ;  while  the  forest  tree,  when  the  woodman's  axe 
has  spoiled  its  surroundings,  sways  and  bends  and  trem-' 
bles,  and  perchance  is  uprooted:  so  is  it  with  man. 
Those  who  are  trained  to  self-reliance  are  ready  to  go  out 
and  contend  in  the  sternest  battles  of  life ;  while  those 
who  have  always  leaned  for  su^Dport  upon  those  around 


492  HIDDEN    TREASURES. 

them  are  never  prepared  to  breast  the  storms  of  life 
that  arise. 

How  many  young  men  falter  and  faint  for  what  they 
imagine  is  necessary  capital  for  a  start.  A  few  thousands 
or  even  hundreds,  in  his  purse,  he  fancies  to  be  about  the 
only  thing  needful  to  secure  his  fortune.  How  absurd 
is  this;  let  the  young  man  know  now,  that  he  is  un- 
woi'thy  of  success  so  long  as  he  harbors  such  ideas.  No 
man  can  gain  true  success,  no  matter  how  situated,  un- 
less he  depends  upon  no  one  but  himself;  remember  that. 
Does  not  history  bear  us  out  in  this  ?  We  remember  the 
adage,  ^'Few  boys  who  are  born  with  a  silver  spoon  in 
their  mouth  ever  achieve  greatness."  By  this  we  would 
not  argue  that  wealth  is  necessarily  derogatory  to  the 
success  of  youth;  to  the  contrarj^,  we  believe  it  can  be  a 
great  help  in  certain  cases  and  conditions;  but  we  have 
long  since  discarded  the  idea  that  early  wealth  is  a  pre 
eminent  factor  in  success;  if  we  should  give  our  un- 
biased opinion,  we  should  say  that,  to  a  vast  majority  of 
cases,  it  is  a  pre-eminent  factor  of  failure.  Give  a  youth 
wealth,  and  you  only  too  often  destroy  all  self-reliance 
which  he  may  possess. 

Let  that  young  man  rejoice,  rather,  whom  God  hath 
given  health  and  a  faculty  to  exercise  his  faculties. 
The  best  kind  of  success  is  not  that  which  comes  by 
accident,  for  as  it  came  by  chance  it  will  go  by  chance. 
The  wisest  charity,  in  a  vast  majority  of  cases,  is  help- 
ing people  to  help  themselves.  Necessity  is  very  often 
the  motive  power  which  sets  in  motion  the  sluggish 
energies.  We  thus  readily  see  that  poverty  can  be  an 
absolute  blessing  to  youth.  A  man's  true  position  in  the 
world  is  that  which  he  himself  attains. 

How  detestable  to  us  is  the  Briton's  reverence  of  pedi- 


WHY  SOME  SUCCEED  WHILE  OTHERS  FAIL.  493 

gree.  Americans  reverence  achievement,  and  yet  we 
are  tending  towards  the  opposite.  Witness  societ}^  as  it 
bows  with  smile  and  honor  to  the  eight-dollar  clerk, 
while  frowning  on  the  eighteen  dollar  laborer.  This  is 
wrong ;  work  is  work,  and  all  work  is  honorable.  It  is 
not  only  wrong,  but  disgraceful.  It  is  better  to  make 
our  ancestry  proud  of  us  than  to  be  proud  of  our  ances- 
tors. He  is  a  man  for  what  he  does,  not  for  what  his 
father  or  his  friends  have  done.  If  they  have  given  him 
a  position,  the  greater  is  his  shame  for  sinking  beneath 
that  position.  The  person  who  is  above  labor  or  despises 
the  laborer,  is  himself  one  of  the  most  despicable  crea- 
tures on  God's  earth.  He  not  only  displays  a  dull  intel- 
ligence of  those  nobler  inspirations  with  which  God  has 
endowed  us,  but  he  even  shows  a  lack  of  plain  common 
sense. 

The  noblest  thing  in  this  world  is  work.  Wise  labor 
brings  order  out  of  chaos ;  it  builds  cities ;  it  distin- 
guishes barbarism  from  civilization  ;  it  brings  success. 
No  man  has  a  right  to  a  fortune ;  he  has  no  right  to 
expect  success,  unless  he  is  willing  to  work  for  it.  A 
brother  of  the  great  orator,  Edmund  Burke,  after  list- 
ening to  one  of  those  eloquent  appeals  in  Parliament, 
being  noticed  as  employed  in  deep  thought,  was  asked  of 
whom  he  was  musing.  He  replied  :  "  I  have  been  won- 
dering how  Ned  contrived  to  monopolize  all  the  talent  in 
the  family;  but  I  remember  that  all  through  childhood, 
while  we  were  at  play,  he  was  at  study." 

Ah !  that's  it.  The  education,  moral  or  intellectual, 
mu^t  be  chiefly  his  own  work.  Education  is  educatioc^ 
no  matter  how  obtamed.  We  do  not  wish  to  be  under- 
stood as  depreciating  the  usefulness  of  colleges ;  not  at 
all.     But  a  mere  college  diploma  will  avail  a  young 


494'  HIDDEN   TREASURES. 

man  but  little.  As  before  stated,  education,  no  matter 
how  obtained,  is  equally  valuable.  Study  like  that  of 
Webster  and  Greeley,  by  New  Hampshire  pine  knots,  and 
that  of  Thurlow  Weed  before  the  sap-house  fire,  is  just 
as  valuable,  when  once  obtained,  as  if  it  had  the  sanc- 
tion of  some  college  president. 

The  world  will  only  ask,  ^' What  can  he  do  ? "  and  will 
not  care  a  fig  for  any  college  certificate.  The  point  is ; 
if  a  young  man  be  not  endowed  by  self-reliance  and  a 
firm  determination,  colleges  will  avail  him  nothing;  but 
if  he  have  these,  colleges  will  push  him  wonderfully. 
Nevertheless,  colleges  are  not  essential  to  success — an 
educated  idiot  w^ill  never  make  a  statesman.  It  is  said 
that  when  John  C.  Calhoun  was  attending  Yale  College 
he  was  ridiculed  for  his  intense  application  to  his  studies. 
He  replied,  "AYhy,  sir,  I  am  forced  to  make  the  most  of 
my  time,  that  I  may  acquit  myself  creditably  when  in 
Congress."  A  laugh  followed  wfiich  roused  his  Southern 
blood,  and  he  exclaimed :  *'Do  you  doubt  it?  I  assure 
you  that  if  I  was  not  convinced  of  my  ability  to  reach 
the  National  Capitol  as  a  representative  wdthin  three 
years  from  my  graduation,  I  would  leave  college  this 
\ery  day."  While  there  are  some  things  in  this  speech 
that  were  possibly  unbecoming;  yet  the  principle  of  self- 
reliance,  this  faith  in  himself,  this  high  aim  in  life,  was 
undoubtedly  the  marked  characteristic  which  brought  to 
Calhoun  his  splendid  success. 

No  young  man  will  ever  succeed  who  will  not  culti- 
vate a  thinking  mind.  If  he  is  not  original  in  aims  and 
purposes  he  will  not  succeed.  Witness  the  attempt  of 
others  to  continue  the  business  of  Stewart.  They  had 
iiot  only  his  experience,  but  the  benefit  of  his  great 
wealth  ;  he  succeeded  without  either — they  failed  with 


WHY  SOME  SUCCEED  WHILE  OTHERS  FAIL.  495 

both;  he  was  obliged  to  establish  a  business — they  had 
the  benefit  of  his  great  patronage. 

It  has  been  said  that  a  lawyer  cannot  be  a  merchant 
Why?  While  a  lawyer  he  thinks  for  himself:  When  a 
merchant  he  allows  others  to  think  for  him.  A  certain 
great  manufacturer  made  "kid"  gloves  his  specialty,  and 
so  well  did  he  succeed  that  to-day  his  trade  mark  im- 
ports to  manufactured  ratskins  a  value  incommunicable 
by  any  other  talisman.  It  is  a  poor  kind  of  enterprise 
which  thus  depends  upon  the  judgment  of  others.  What 
can  be  more  absurb  than  for  a  man  to  hope  to  rank  as  a 
thundering  Jupiter  when  he  borrows  all  his  thunder. 
Remember  that  the  world  only  crowns  him  as  truly  great 
who  has  won  for  himself  that  greatness. 


Economy  of  Time, 


**Full  many  a  gem,  of  purest  ray  serene, 
The  dark  unf athomed  caves  of  ocean  bear; 
Full  many  a  flower  is  born  to  blush  unseen, 
And  waste  its  sweetness  on  the  desert  air," 

HOW  many  young  men  for  whom  nature  has  done  so 
much,  "blush  unseen,"  and  waste  their  ability. 
Franklin  said,  "Dost  thou  love  life?  Then  do  not 
squander  time,  for  that  is  the  stuff  life  is  made  of."  We 
have  seen  how  Franklin  used  his  time.  Born  the  son  of 
a  soap-boiler,  lived  to  become  one  of  our  most  noted 
philosophers,  died  worth  thousands.    Advice  from  such 


496  HIDDEN   TREASURES. 

men  carries  conviction,  for  we  cannot  but  feel  that  our 
chances  are  fully  equal  to  what  theirs  were. 

Gladstone,  England's  most  noted  Premier,  one  said^ 
"Believe  me  when  I  tell  you  that  thrift  of  time  will  re- 
pay you  in  after-life  with  usury,  but  the  waste  of  it  will 
make  you  dwindle  away  until  you  fairly  sink  out  of  ex- 
istence, unknown,  unmourned.'^  Thurlow  Weed  was  so 
poor  in  boyhood  that  he  was  of  necessity  glad  to  use 
pieces  of  carpet  to  cover  his  all  but  freezing  feet;  thus 
shod  he  walked  two  miles  to  borrow  a  history  of  the 
French  revolution,  which  he  mastered  stretched  prone 
before  the  sap-fire,  while  watching  the  kettles  of  sap 
transformed  to  maple  sugar.  Thus  was  it  that  he  laidtbri 
foundation  of  his  education,  which  in  after  years  en 
abled  him  to  sway  such  mighty  power  at  Albany;  knowi? 
as  the  "king  maker." 

Elihu  Burritt,  a  child  of  poverty,  the  son  of  a  poor 
farmer,  the  youngest  of  ten  children.  He  was  appren- 
ticed at  eighteen  to  a  blacksmith.  He  wanted  to  become 
a  scholar  and  bought  some  Greek  and  Latin  works,  carry- 
ing them  in  his  pocket  and  studying  as  he  worked  at  the 
anvil.  From  these  he  went  to  Spanish,  Italian  and 
French.  He  always  had  his  book  near  him  and  im- 
proved every  spare  moment.  He  studied  seven  lan- 
guages in  one  single  year.  Then  he  taught  school  one 
year,  but  his  health  failing,  he  went  into  the  grocery 
business.     Soon  what  money  he  had  was  swept  away  by 

losses. 

Here  we  see  him  at  twenty-seven,  life  seemingly  a 
failure.  Alas  !  how  many  would  have  given  up.  He  left 
New  Britain,  his  native  town,  walked  to  Boston,  and 
from  there  to  Worcester,  where  he  once  more  engaged 
himself  at  his  trade.  His  failure  in  business  turns  his 
31 


WHY  SOME  SUCCEED  WHILE  OTHERS  FAIL.  497 

attention  once  more  to  study.  He  now  is  convinced  as 
to  the  proper  course  to  pursue,  his  aim  is  fixed,  and  he 
now  sets  himself  strenuously  about  the  accomplishment 
of  his  purpose.  At  thirty  years  of  age  he  is  master  of 
every  language  of  Europe,  and  is  turning  his  attention 
to  those  of  Asia,  such  as  Hebrew,  Syriac,  Chaldaic.  He 
is  offered  by  a  wealthy  gentleman  a  course  in  Harvard 
University,  but  prefers  to  work  with  his  hands  while  he 
studies. 

He  now  begins  to  lecture,  and  everybody  is  eager  to 
hear  the  learned  blacksmith.  After  a  very  successful 
tour  he  returns  to  the  anvil.  After  this  he  visits  Europe, 
becomes  the  warm  friend  of  John  Bright  and  other 
eminent  men;  writes  books,  lectures,  edits  new  papers, 
builds  a  church  and  holds  meetings  himself.  He  said : 
"It  is  not  genius  that  wins,  but  hard  work  and  a  pure 
life."  He  chose  the  best  associates  only,  believing  that 
a  boy's  companions  have  much  to  do  with  his  success  in 
life.  At  sixty-eight  he  died,  honored  by  two  hemispheres. 

If  our  readers  want  further  proof  as  to  the  result  of 
improving  spare  moments,  let  them  study  the  lives  of 
juch  men  as  Douglass,  Lincoln,  Grant,  Garfield,  Blaine, 
Cleveland,  and  others  too  numerous  to  mention,  and  .ney 
will  find  that  they  were  reared  in  the  lower  walks  of 
life,  but  by  using  every  available  minute  they  have  been 
enabled  to  rise  to  influence  and  usefulness.  By  this 
means  they  have  worked  the  very  odds  and  ends  of  t^me, 
into  results  of  the  greatest  value.  An  hour  every  day 
for  ten  years,  will  transform  any  one  of  ordinary  ability 
from  ignorance  to  learning, 

Think  of  it.  One  hour  could  be  easily  improved 
each  evening,  counting  three  hundred  week  days  to  a 
year ;  in  ten  years  you  have  spent  three  thousand  golden 


498  HIDDEN   TREASURES. 

hours.  If  directed  toward  some  specific  end,  think  whal 
it  would  accomplish.  Then  there  are  the  Sundays 
devoted  to  religious  knowledge.  One  of  the  first  things 
to  be  learned  by  him  who  would  succeed,  is  Economy 
OF  TIME.  Lost  wealth  can  be  replaced  by  industry  ;  lost 
health  by  hygiene ;  but  lost  time  is  gone  forever. 

The  most  frequent  excuse  one  hears  is:  "I  have  no 
time."  They  cheat  themselves  with  the  delusion  that  they 
would  like  to  do  this  or  that,  but  cannot  as  they  have 
no  leisure.  Dear  reader,  did  you  ever  think  that  the 
more  a  person  has  to  do,  the  more  they  feel  they  can  do  ? 
Look  at  the  men  in  our  own  community  who  have  done 
the  most  for  mankind ;  are  they  the  wealthy,  whose  only 
duty  seems  to  be  to  kill  time  ?  No.  Almost  universally 
they  are  the  over-worked  class  who  seem  already 
burdened  with  cares.  These  are  the  men  who  find  time 
to  preside  at  public  meetings,  and  to  serve  on  com- 
mittees. 

It  is  easier  for  an  over- worked  man  to  do  a  little  more 
than  for  a  lazy  one  to  get  up  steam.  A  light  stroke  will 
keep  a  hoop  in  motion,  but  it  takes  a  smart  blow  to  start 
it.  The  busy  man  succeeds:  "While  others  are  yawning 
and  stretching,  getting  their  eyes  open,  he  will  see  the 
opportunity  and  improve  it.  Complain  not  that  you 
have  no  leisure.  Rather  be  thankful  that  you  are  not 
cursed  with  it.  Yes,  curse  it  is  nine  times  out  of  ten. 
Think  of  the  young  man  going  to  some  vile  place  of 
amusement  to  kill  time,  then  think  of  that  young  man 
utilizing  that  hour  every  night  in  the  acquisition  of 
knowledge  which  will  fit  him  for  life's  journey.  Think 
also  of  the  money  he  will  save.  Leisure  is  too  often  like 
a  two-edged  sword;  it  cuts  both  ways. 


WHY  SOME  SUCCEED  WHILE  OTHERS  FAIU  499 


Causes  of  Failure. 


HORACE  GREELEY  has  truly  said:  ^'If  any  man 
fancies  that  there  is  some  easier  way  of  gaining  a 
dollar  than  by  squarely  earning  it  he  has  lost  the  clew 
to  his  way  through  this  mortal  labyrinth,  and  must 
henceforth  wander  as  chance  may  dictate."  Look  about 
you ;  how  many  there  are  who  are  determined  to  share 
all  the  good  things  of  this  world  without  exchanging  an 
equivalent.  They  go  into  business,  but  are  not  content 
to  wait  patiently,  adding  one  dollar  to  another,  and  thus 
rendering  to  mankind  an  equivalent  for  this  wealth  for 
which  they  are  asking.  This  excessive  haste  to  become 
rich  is  one  of  the  most  frequent  causes  of  failure.  When 
a  young  man  has  decided  to  work  vv^ith  a  will,  and  to 
accumulate  every  dollar  he  legitimately  can  he  has  made 
a  long  stride  toward  success.  We  do  not  deprecate  a 
desire  to  be  some  one  in  the  world,  but  we  do  most  em- 
phatically frown  upon  the  desire  to  get  wealth  by  specu- 
lation or  illicit  means.  We  most  earnestly  advise  all 
young  men  to  choose  a  calling,  become  thoroughly  mas- 
ter of  that  calling,  then  pursue  that  vocation  to  success, 
avoiding  all  outside  operations.  Another  man  who  has 
dealt  in  stocks  all  his  life  may  be  able  to  succeed,  but 
your  business  is  to  stick  to  your  vocation  until,  if  neces- 
sary, you  fairly  wring  success  from  it. 

Moses  Taylor  was  a  successful  merchant,  he  had  long 
deposited  with  the  City  Bank,  and  was  finally  made  its 
president.    The  late  Commodore  Vanderbilt  often  tried 


600  HIDDEN    TREASURES. 

to  induce  him  to  enter  into  his  grand  speculations,  but 
of  no  avail.  At  last  the  crash  of  '57  came.  The  bank- 
ers called  a  meeting  to  discuss  the  situation.  One  bank 
after  another  reported  drafts  of  from  sixty  to  even  ninety 
per  cent,  of  their  specie.  When  Mr.  Taylor  was  called 
he  replied:  '^The  City  Bank  contained  this  morning 
$400,000 ;  to-night  we  had  $480,000."  This  was  the  kind 
of  a  bank  president  such  principles  made  him. 

Hardly  anything  is  more  fatal  to  success  than  a  de- 
sire to  become  suddenly  rich.  A  business  man  now 
counts  his  wealth  by  the  thousands,  but  he  sees  a  grand 
chance  to  speculate.  This  is  a  little  risky,  of  course, 
but  then  the  old  adage :  "  Never  venture,  never  have." 
I  admit  I  may  lose,  but  then  all  men  are  subject  to  loss 
in  any  business,  but  I  am  reasonably  sure  of  gaining  an 
immense  amount.  Why!  what  would  folks  think?  I 
would  be  a  millionaire.  I  would  do  so  and  so.  Thus  he 
indulges  in  this  sort  of  reasoning,  goes  into  a  business 
of  which  he  knows  nothing  and  loses  all.  Why  wouldn't 
he?  Men  who  have  made  a  study  of  that  business  for 
years,  and  who  have  amassed  a  fortune  in  it,  are  daily 
becoming  bankrupt.  What  an  idiot  a  man  makes  of 
himself  when  he  leaves  a  calling  in  which  he  has  been 
eminently  successful  to  embark  in  a  calling  which  is,  at 
best,  uncertain,  and  of  which  he  knows  nothing.  Once 
for  all,  let  me  admonish  you :  If  you  would  succeed 
never  enter  outside  operations,  especially  if  they  be  of  a 
speculative  nature.  Select  a  calling,  and  if  you  stick  to 
your  calling,  your  calling  will  stick  to  you. 

Frequent  changes  of  business  is  another  cause  of 
failure,  but  we  have  treated  this  subject  quite  thoroughly 
elsewhere  in  this  work.  Therefore  it  seems  to  us  that 
to  add  more  here  would  be  superfluous.     True  it  is  that 


WHY  SOME  SUCCEED  WHILE  OTHERS  FAIL.  501 

some  men  have  succeeded  who  have  seemingly  drifted 
about..  Dr.  Adam  Clark  has  said  :  ''The  old  adage  about 
too  many  irons  in  the  fire  conveys  an  abominable  lie. 
Keep  them  all  agoing— poker,  tongs  and  all."  But  Dr. 
Clark  seems  to  forget  that  the  most  of  the  people  who 
try  to  follow  his  advice,  either  burn  their  fingers  or  find 
their  irons  cooling  faster  than  they  can  use  them.  We 
cannot  all  be  Clarks  if  we  try,  and  to  follow  this  method 
the  most  of  us  will  fail ;  but  we  can,  by  following  one 
line  of  procedure,  at  last  bring  success. 

Extravagance  of  living  is  another  prolific  cause  of 
bankruptcy.  A  man  imagines  that  by  hiring  a  horse 
and  driving  in  the  park  he  will  show  people  that  he  is 
as  good  as  the  neighbor  who  drives  his  own  horse.  He 
deludes  himself  with  the  idea  that  this  sort  of  extrava- 
gance will,  in  the  eyes  of  his  fellow-men,  place  him  on 
an  equal  footing  with  millionaires. 

Dr.  Franklin  has  truly  said:  "It  is  notour  own  eyes, 
but  other  people's,  that  ruin  us."  It  has  been  said  that 
the  merchant  who  could  live  on  five  hundred  a  year,  fifty 
years  ago,  now  requires  ^yq  thousand.  In  living,  avoid 
a  "penny  wise  and  pound  foolish"  custom.  A  man  may 
think  he  knows  all  about  economy  and  yet  be  ignorant 
of  its  first  principles.  For  instance,  a  business  man  may 
save  every  imaginable  piece  of  writing  paper,  using  all  the 
dirty  envelopes  that  come  in  his  way.  This  he  does  in- 
stead of  using  a  neat  letter  head  and  clean  paper,  at  a 
slight  additional  cost,  and  vast  gain  in  the  influence 
which  such  a  letter  carries  over  the  other.  Some  years 
ago  a  man  stopped  at  a  farm  house  over  night.  After 
tea  he  much  desired  to  read,  but  found  it  impossible 
from  the  insufiicient  light  of  one  candle.  Seeing  his 
dilemma,  the  hostess  said:    "It  is  rather  difiicult  to  read 


502  HIDDEN   TREASURES. 

here  evenings;  the  proverb  says,  'You  must  have  a  ship 
at  sea  in  order  to  be  able  to  burn  two  candles  at  once.'" 
She  would  as  soon  have  thought  of  throwing  a  five  dollar 
bill  into  the  fire  as  of  setting  the  example  of  burning  two 
candles  at  once.  This  woman  saved,  perhaps,  five  or  six 
dollars  a  year,  but  the  information  she  thus  denied  her 
children  would,  of  course,  out-weigh  a  ton  of  candles. 
But  this  is  not  the  worst  of  it. 

The  business  man,  by  such  costly  stinginess,  consoles 
himself  that  he  is  saving.  As  he  has  saved  a  few  dollars 
in  letter  paper,  he  feels  justified  in  expending  ten  times 
that  amount  for  some  extravagance.  The  man  thinks 
he  is  a  saving  man.  The  woman  is  a  saving  woman,  she 
knows  she  is  a  saving  woman.  She  has  saved  five  Or 
six  dollars  this  year  in  candles,  and  so  feels  justified  in 
buying  some  needless  finery,  which  could  gratify  nothing 
but  the  eye.  She  is  sure  she  understands  economy,  yet 
she  starves  the  mind  to  clothe  the  body  in  finery.  She 
is  something  like  the  man  who  could  not  afford  to  buy 
more  than  a  penny  herring  for  his  dinner,  yet  hired  a 
coach  and  four  to  take  it  home.  Saving  by  retail  and 
wasting  by  wholesale.  Nowadays  we  use  kerosene  and 
thus  our  light  is  both  good  and  cheap,  but  the  principle 
remains. 

Wear  the  old  clothes  until  you  can  pay  for  more; 
never  wear  clothes  for  which  you  owe  anyone.  Live  on 
plainer  food  if  need  be.  Greeley  said:  '^Tf  I  had  but 
fifty  cents  a  week  to  live  on,  I'd  buy  a  peck  of  corn  and 
parch  it  before  I'd  owe  any  man  a  dollar."  The  young 
man  who  follows  this  principle  will  never  be  obliged  to 
live  on  parched  corn.  How  few  people  keep  an  itemized 
account  of  their  expenses.  Spendthrifts  never  like  to 
keep  accounts.    Buy  a  book;  post  in  it  every  night  your 


WHY  SOME  SUCCEED  WHILE  OTHERS  FAIL.  503 

daily  expenditures  in  the  columns;  one  headed  "Neces- 
saries,"  the  other  "Luxuries,"  and  you  will  find  that  the 
latter  column  will  be  at  least  double  the  former.  In- 
deed, in  some  cases  it  will  exceed  it  ten  times  over. 

It  is  not  the  purchase  of  the  necessaries  of  life  that 
ruin  people,  but  the  most  foolish  expenditures  which  we 
imagine  necessary  to  our  comfort.  Necessary  to  our 
comfort;  Ah !  what  a  mistake  is  that,  as  many  a  man 
will  testify  who  is  perpetually  dunned  by  uneasy  credit- 
ors. It  is  the  sheerest  kind  of  nonsense,  this  living  on 
credit.  It  is  wicked.  Yet  a  gentleman  recently  told 
the  writer  that  he  personally  knew  a  clergyman  who 
had  been  preaching  for  years  on  a  salary  exceeding  seven 
hundred  dollars  per  year,  and  of  late  on  twelve  hundred 
per  year ;  yet,  this  man  of  the  gospel  to-day  owes  his 
college  debts.  A  man  loaned  him  money  to  go  through 
school,  and  he  has  never  been  "able"  to  repay  that  money, 
although  he  has  practiced  the  most  "rigid  economy." 

Stuff !  this  man  knows  nothing  of  the  first  principles 
of  economy.  In  my  opinion,  there  are  many  clergymen 
who  will  have  to  answer  for  the  sin  of  extravigance : 
There  are  many  more  who  will  have  to  answer  for  the 
sin  of  slothfulness.  The  Bible  says  :  "Six  days  shalt 
thou  labor  and  do  all  thy  work."  Ah !  there  is  a  part  of 
the  commandments  too  often  skipped  flippantly  over. 
Many  a  clergyman  would  be  horrified  if  asked  to  do  any 
labor  on  the  seventh  day ;  but  would  be  equally  horrified 
if  accused  of  sinning  by  attending  to  a  foreign  business, 
thereby  neglecting  to  do  all  his  labor  during  the  six 
other  days. 

God  gives  us  ample  time  to  do  our  work,  and  it  is  a 
sin  to  leave  any  of  it  undone.  God  expects  a  man  to 
choose  some  calling,  and  He  also  expects  that  man  to 


504  HIDDEN   TREASURES. 

master  that  calling,  and  He  expects  him  to  do  his  utmost 
to  excel  in  that  calling.  No  clergyman  can  spend  four 
days  out  of  a  week  in  some  foreign  work,  and  in  the  two 
remaining  days  thoroughly  prepare  himself  for  the  Sab- 
bath work.  For  two  reasons:  One  is,  he  disregards  the 
law  of  concentration,  divides  his  mind  and  thoughts; 
hence,  loses  force  and  influence.  The  other,  that  God 
does  not  approve  of  other  than  our  best  effort. 

This  preacher  will  occupy  one  hour  in  preaching  a 
twenty-five  minute  discourse,  and  then  complain  because 
people  are  not  interested  in  his  sermons.  We  do  not 
justify  Sabbath-breaking,  nor  a  lack  of  religious  interest, 
but  the  preacher  who  is  unwilling  to  take  any  responsi- 
bility upon  himself  for  such  a  state  of  things  is  lacking 
somewhere.  We  speak  of  the  clergyman  simply  as  illus- 
trative of  our  idea  in  this  matter.  The  same  rule  applies 
to  the  lawyer,  physician,  or  merchant — the  mechanic, 
artist  or  laborer.  If  I  was  a  day  laborer  building  a  stone 
wall  I'd  study  my  work  and  push  it  so  vigorously  that  I 
would  soon  be,  if  not  the  best,  at  least  one  of  the  best 
workmen  anywhere  to  be  found.  Strive  to  be  an  author- 
ity. Wasted  opportunity;  there  is  the  root  of  thousands 
of  failures. 

A  recent  paper  states  that  nine-tenths  of  our  young 
lawyers  fail  from  lack  of  study.  Here  is  a  thought  for 
the  clergyman  who  thinks  he  should  have  a  better  place. 
Of  course  there  are  circumstances  to  be  considered,  but 
the  man  of  determination  bends  circumstances  to  his  will. 
A  man  imagines  himself  capable  of  filling  a  higher  place 
than  he  does.  He  imagines  himself  a  Webster,  a  Lin- 
coln, a  Garfield,  a  Spurgeon — but  vainly  waits  for  cir- 
<5umstances  to  favor  his  deserved  promotion.  Look  at 
Spurgeon;  was  he  picked  up  bodily  and  placed  in  the 


WHY  SOME  SUCCEED  WHILE  OTHERS  FAIL.  505 

pulpit  he  now  stands  upon  ?  No,  but  he  was  full  of  the 
Hcly  Ghost,  and  without  thought  of  what  he  deserved 
began  preaching  in  the  street.  Was  Talmage  placed  in 
the  Tabernacle  because  he  was  of  real  inferiority  to 
other  preachers.  No;  but  he  was  original,  he  borrowed 
from  no  one,  he  did  his  best,  he  fits  the  notch  in  which 
he  is  placed.  Did  people  get  down  on  their  knees  to 
Beecher,  begging  him  to  occupy  Plymouth  church? 
They  recognized  the  necessity  of  concentration;  and, 
although  you  see  them  in  other  fields,  at  times,  still  it 
was  not  until  they  had  mastered  their  first  undertaking. 
Eiihu  Burritt  mastered  over  forty  different  languages  by 
taking  one  at  a  time. 

The  writer,  in  early  youth,  learned  a  lesson  which 
has  ever  been  of  inestimable  benefit  to  him.  The  next 
lessons  would  begin  Fractions,  something  we  never  had 
taken.  We  began  to  glance  through  that  part  of  the 
book,  and  soon  became  thoroughly  convinced  that  we 
should  never  be  able  to  master  their  intricacies,  at  once 
becoming  despondent.  Coming  home  at  night,  he  spoke 
of  his  discouragement,  when  his  father  set  to  work 
explaining  the  first  principles.  Thus,  step  by  step,  the 
stubborn  principles  were  mastered,  and  to-day,  if  there 
is  any  part  of  Arithmetic  in  which  he  excels  it  is  in 
Fractions. 

"  Never  cross  bridges  until  you  come  to  them."  A 
man  should  plan  ahead,  but  he  should  be  hopeful — not 
confident — should  never  borrow  trouble,  and  must  avoid 
all  extremes.  Another  cause  of  failure  is  :  The  habit  of 
endorsing  without  security.  No  one  should  ever  endorse 
any  man's  paper  without  security  or  an  equivalent.  I 
hold  that  no  man  has  a  right  to  ask  you  to  endorse  his 
paper  unless  he  can  either  endorse  for  you  or  give  good 


506  HIDDEN   TREASURES. 

security.  Of  course  there  are  cases  where  a  brother,  who 
is  young  and  cannot  give  security,  can  be  helped  into 
business ;  but  his  habits  must  be  his  security,  and  his 
duty  is  to  have  made  his  previous  life  a  guarantee  of  his 
ability  to  safely  conduct  the  business.  But  even  in  such 
cases  a  man's  first  duty  is  to  his  family,  and  he  should 
never  endorse,  even  a  brother's  paper,  to  a  greater 
amount  than  he  feels  that  he  could  reasonably  lose. 

A  man  may  be  doing  a  thriving  manufacturing  busi- 
ness— another  man  comes  to  him  and  says :  "  You  are 
aware  that  I  am  worth  $20,000,  and  don't  owe  a  dollar  ; 
my  money  is  all  locked  up  at  present  in  my  business, 
which  you  are  also  aware  is  to-day  in  a  flourishing  con- 
dition. Now,  if  I  had  $5,000  to-day  I  could  purchase  a 
lot  of  goods  and  double  my  money  in  a  few  months. 
Will  you  endorse  my  note  for  that  amount "  ?  You  re- 
flect that  he  is  worth  $20,000,  and,  therefore,  you  incur 
no  risk  by  endorsing  his  note.  Of  course,  he  is  a  neigh- 
bor ;  you  want  to  accommodate  him,  and  you  give  him 
your  name  without  taking  the  precaution  of  being 
secured.  Shortly  after  he  shows  you  the  note,  canceled, 
and  tells  you,  probably  truly,  that  he  made  the  profit 
expected  by  the  operation.  You  reflect  that  you  have 
done  him  a  favor,  and  the  thought  makes  you  feel  good. 
You  do  not  reflect,  possibly,  that  he  might  have  failed 
for  every  dollar  that  he  was  worth,  and  you  would  have 
lost  $5,000.  You  possibly  forget  that  you  have  risked 
$5,000  without  even  the  prospect  of  one  cent  in  return. 
This  is  the  worst  kind  of  hazard.  But  let  us  see — by 
and  by  the  same  favor  is  again  asked,  and  you  again 
comply;  you  have  flxed  the  impression  in  your  mind 
that  it  is  perfectly  safe  to  endorse  his  notes  without 
security.    This  man  is  getting  money  too  easily.    All  ha 


WHY  SOME  SUCCEED  WHILE  OTHERS  FAIL.  507 

has  to  do  is  take  the  note  to  the  bank,  and  as  either  you 
or  he  are  considered  good  for  it,  he  gets  his  cash.  He 
gets  the  money,  for  the  time  being,  without  an  effort. 
Now  mark  the  result :  He  sees  a  chance  for  speculation 
outside  of  his  business — a  temporary  investment  of  only 
$10,000  is  required.  It  is  sure  to  come  back  even  before 
the  note  is  due.  He  places  the  amount  before,  and  you 
sign  in  a  mechanical  way. 

Being  firmly  convinced  that  your  friend  is  perfectly 
responsible,  you  endorse  his  notes  as  a  matter  of  course. 
But  the  speculation  does  not  develop  as  soon  as  was 
expected.  However,  ''it  is  all  right;  all  that  is  needed 
is  another  $10,000  note  to  take  up  the  former  one  at  the 
bank."  Before  this  comes  due  the  speculation  turns  out 
a  dead  loss.  This  friend  does  not  tell  you  that  he  has 
lost  one-half  his  fortune — he  does  not  even  tell  j^ou  that 
he  has  speculated  at  all.  But  he  is  now  thoroughly  ex- 
cited, he  sees  men  all  around  making  money — we  seldom 
hear  of  the  losers — ''  he  looks  for  his  money  where  he 
lost  it.''  He  gets  you  to  endorse  other  notes  at  different 
times  upon  different  pretenses  until  suddenly  you  are 
aware  that  your  friend  has  lost  all  his  fortune  and  all  of 
yours.  But  you  do  not  reflect  that  you  have  ruined  him 
as  well  as  he  has  ruined  you. 

All  this  could  have  been  avoided  by  your  gentle- 
manly but  BUSINESS-LIKE  BEARING  Oil  the  start.  If  you 
had  said  :  "You  are  my  neighbor,  and  of  course,  if  my 
name  will  be  of  use  to  you  at  the  bank,  you  can  have  it. 
All  I  ask  is  security.  I  do  not  at  all  distrust  you,  or  your 
plan,  but  I  always  give  security  when  I  ask  such  a 
favor  and  I  presume  that  you  do."  If  you  had  simply 
asked  security  he  could  not  have  gone  beyond  his  tether, 
and,  possibly,  very  likely  would  not  have  speculated  at 


508  HIDDEN    TREASURES. 

all.  What  the  world  demands  is  thinking  men.  Let 
justice  rule  in  all  business  transactions.  How  many  men 
would  not  waste  another  man's  property,  but  would 
waste  that  which  belongs  to  his  family !  Ah !  we  want 
more  men  who  will  recognize  family  demands  for  justice, 
as  well  as  other  people's  demands — men  who  have  the 
brains  to  comprehend  that  it  is  possible  to  cheat  their 
own  family  as  well  as  their  neighbor. 

Another  frequent  cause  of  failure  is  a  neglect  of  one's 
business.  There  are  many  causes  for  this.  One  thing  is 
certain,  a  man  will  attend  to  his  business  in  proportion 
to  the  amount  of  interest  he  has  in  that  business.  This 
applies  to  all  vocations,  either  in  the  professions,  busi- 
ness, or  manual  labor.  If  we  see  a  man  playing  checkers 
day  after  day  in  some  corner-store,  although  the  game 
itself  may  be  no  harm,  still  it  is  wrong  for  that  man  to 
waste  valuable  time. 

Then  there  are  pool  and  billiards.  How  many  young 
men  have  been  ruined  for  life,  and  possibly  eternally 
damned,  just  by  beginning  a  downward  course  at  the 
billiard  room.  There  is  a  peculiar  fascination  in  the 
game  of  pool  or  billiards  which  cannot  be  described. 
Of  course  it  is  only  a  game  for  the  cigars — yes,  that's  it ; 
one  habit  leads  to  another.  The  young  man  who  smokes 
goes  in  and  in  one  evening's  fun,  ^'wins"  fifteen  or 
twenty  cigars.  He  argues  that  he  has  got  smoking  ma- 
terial for  two  or  three  days  or  a  week  for  nothing,  but 
listen :  He  plays  pool  for  ten  cents  a  game.  If  he  beats, 
his  opponent  pays ;  if  his  opponent  beats,  he  pays.  Each 
game  is  distinct  by  itself,  and  has  no  bearing  on  any 
previous  game.  Now,  if  you  play  and  win  two  out  of 
three  games  right  straight  along,  you  are  steadily  losing. 

Every  game  you  lose  is  ten  cents  gone  that  you  can 


WHY  SOME  SUCCEED  WHILE  OTHERS  FAIL.  509 

not  possibly  win  back.  If  you  play  twenty-five  games, 
(and  it  won't  take  long  for  good  players  to  do  that  in  an 
evening),  and  you  win  two  out  of  three,  you  will  then 
be  out  at  least  eighty  cents.  If  you  win  twenty-four 
out  of  the  twenty-five,  you  would  be  out  ten  cents. 
Don't  you  see  that  the  percentage  is  against  the  player. 
You  never  heard  of  a  man  making  anything  playing 
pool  or  billiards  unless  he  was  in  the  business.  You 
have  personally  seen  many  young  mem  working  by  the 
day  who  admit  that  they  have  spent  from  $100  to  $1,000 
during  the  three  to  five  years  they  had  played.  Now, 
why  is  it  some  succeed  while  others  fail  ? 

There  is  one  thing  that  nothing  living  ever  naturally 
liked  except  a  vile  worm,  and  that  is  tobacco ;  yet,  how 
many  people  there  are  who  cultivate  this  unnatural 
habit.  They  are  well  aware  that  its  use  does  harm.  It 
is  a  harder  job  to  learn  it  than  to  learn  to  like  castor 
oil,  yet  they  will  persist  in  it  until  they  learn  to  long  for  it. 
Young  lads  regret  that  they  are  not  men  ;  they  would 
like  to  go  to  bed  boys  and  wake  up  men.  Little  Charlie 
and  Harry  see  their  fathers  or  uncles  smoke,  if  not,  then 
they  see  somebody's  father  or  uncle  puffing  along  the 
street, "  taking  comfort,"  and  they  think  that  is  one  of 
the  essentials  of  being  a  man.  So  they  get  a  pipe  and 
fill  it  with  tobacco,  and  as  the  parents,  instead  of  per- 
sisting until  they  gai^  their  affections,  slowly  teaching 
them  to  detest  wrong,  fly  to  pieces  and  say,  "I  will  whip 
you  if  I  see  yon.  doing  that  again."  So  little  Charlie 
and  Harry  get  out  behind  the  barn  and  light  up.  By 
and  by  Charne  says,  "  Do  you  like  it,  Harry"  ?  And  that 
lad  dolefully  replies,  ''Not  very  much;  it  tastes  bitter." 
Presently  he  turns  pale  and  soon  offers  up  a  sacrifice  on 
''\>Q  aliar  of  fashion.    But  the  boys  stick  to  it,  and  at 


510  HIDDEN   TREASURES, 

last  conquer  even  their  appetites,  learning  to  prefer  thsir 
quid  to  the  most  delicious  peach. 

I  speak  from  personal  knowledge,  for  I  have  seen  the 
time  that  I  never  felt  prouder  than  when  behind  a  five 
or  ten  cent  cigar  or  meerschaum.  But  that  time  is  passed 
with  me,  and  I  never  see  a  poor  clerk  going  along  the 
street  puffing  a  cigar  which  he  must  know  he  can  ill- 
afford  to  buy,  but  I  think  of  what  a  man  once  said  in 
speaking  of  a  cigar :  ^'  It  is  a  roll  of  tobacco  with  fire  on 
one  end  and  a  fool  on  the  other."  One  cigar  excites  the 
desire  for  another,  hence  the  habit  grows  on  a  person. 
These  remarks  apply  with  ten  fold  force  to  the  use  of 
intoxicants.  No  matter  how  bountifully  a  man  is  blessed 
with  intelligence,  if  the  brain  is  muddled,  and  his  judg- 
ment warped  by  intoxicating  drinks,  it  will  simply  be 
impossible  for  him  to  succeed,  to  his  utmost  bounds,  at 
least. 

Orators  for  years  have  told  you  of  the  degradation 
and  want  that  the  "social  glass"  brings  us  to.  Stories 
innumerable  have  been  told  of  husbands  leaving  all  they 
loved  in  this  world  to  satisfy  these  unnatural  desires. 
One  habit  indulged  leads  to  another.  We  have  seen  how 
even  the  "  innocent"  habit  of  smoking  may  have  an  in- 
fluence in  deciding  a  young  man  to  take  the  next  step. 
Once  in  the  billiard  room  it  is  not  hard  to  see  how  the 
young  can  be  led  on  to  drink,  first  one  thing,  then 
another.  We  will  say  nothing  of  cards.  Card-playing, 
gambling,  is  only  the  natural  result  of  these  other  evils, 
that  is,  they  tend  that  way,  they  go  with  it  and  it  goes 
with  them.  Where  one  is  found  you  will  often  find  the 
other. 

The  coroner  can  tell  you  more  about  the  results  of 
bad  habits  than  I  can.     To  those  who  to-day  may  be  so 


WHY  SOME  SUCCEED  WHILE  OTHERS  FAIL.  511 

unfortunte  as  to  be  under  the  fascination  of  any  habit, 
let  me  say  that  you  can  overcome  that  habit,  and  learn 
to  detest  it,  too.  Young  man,  you  desire  to  be  rich  and 
succeed,  but  you  disregard  the  fundamental  principles 
of  success — hence  fail.  Why  wouldn't  you  ?  You  might 
as  well  expect  to  build  a  fine  house  without  a  foundation. 
You  desire  to  gain  wealth,  yet  you  spend  twenty  cents 
every  day  on  one  extravagance  or  another,  which,  with 
interest,  would  amount  to  over  $19,000  at  the  end  of 
fifty  years.  T  here  is  food  for  thought  for  you.  When 
you  again  wish  to  yourself  that  you  were  rich,  and  then 
take  ten  cents  out  of  your  pocket  in  the  shape  of  a  cigar, 
and  proceed  to  burn  it  up,  just  let  the  thought  pass 
through  your  mind,  "  What  a  fool  I  make  of  myself  every 
day." 

A  man  recently  told  the  writer  that  he  spent  one 
dollar  every  day  in  treating  and  smoking.  He  is  an  ice 
dealer  in  New  York  City,  and  has  done  a  good  business 
for  thirty  years.  I  cannot  say  how  long  he  has  been 
spending  this  dollar  a  day,  but  I  do  know  that  one  dollar 
earned  each  day,  with  interest,  will  make  a  man  worth 
■over  $475,000  within  fifty  years.  There  is  enough  wasted 
by  the  average  person  within  twenty-five  years  to  make 
any  family  well  off.  The  pennies  are  vv^asted  in  the  de- 
sire to  get  the  dollars.  The  dollars  are  not  half  so  es- 
sential to  success  as  the  pennies.  The  old  saying: 
^  Honesty  is  the  best  policy,"  is  surely  true  in  more  ways 
than  one.  There  is  more  ways  than  one  to  succeed  in 
this  world. 

A  man  may  succeed  in  National  honor,  and  yet  have 
little  of  this  world's  goods.  Many  a  Congressman,  who 
has  but  little  money,*  who  sometimes  feel  the  need 
of  money,  would  not  exchange  places  with  a  Rothschild. 


512  HIDDEN   TREASURES. 

But  it  is  not  necessary  to  be  either  a  Rothschild  or  a 
Webster,  in  order  to  succeed.  It  is  a  question  in  my 
mind,  whether  that  man,  who  has  lived  wholly  for  self, 
is  happy,  even  though  he  be  rich  as  Croesus  or  as  honored 
as  Demosthenes. 

Therefore  let  us  not  entirely  lose  sight  of  the  funda- 
mental law  of  success. — ^'Do  unto  others  as  you  would 
have  them  do  to  you.'*  "Put  yourself  in  his  place." 
What  is  success  ?  It  is  doing  our  level  best.  It  is  the 
making  the  most  of  our  abilities.  If  we  do  not  do  this 
we  both  sin,  and  lose  the  goal  of  earthly  happiness. 

**  And  is  it  too  late.? 
No!  for  Time  is  a  fiction,  and  limits  not  fate. 
Thought  alone  is  eternal.     Time  thralls  it  in  vain. 
For  the  thought  that  springs  upward  and  yearns  to  regain 
The  pure  source  of  spirit,  there  is  no  Too  late.** 


'^{^ 


